IRLF BORING-MARKET F.-A. WAUGH LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. Class I . FRUIT HARVESTING STORING, MARKETING OTHER BOOKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR : : : LANDSCAPE GARDENING PLUMS AND PLUM CULTURE , FRUIT HARVESTING STORING, MARKETING A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO THE PICK- ING, SORTING, PACKING, STORING, SHIPPING, AND MARKETING OF FRUIT : : : : : : : : : . BY F. A. WAUGH ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 1908 utNtrtML COPYRIGHT NINETEEN HUNDRED AND ONB BY F. A. WAUGH TABLE OF CONTENTS PART ONE THE FRUIT MARKET PAGE I. The Two Markets 4 II. The Market Problems 6 III. Commission Men 8 IV. The Foreign Market 12 V. Selling Associations Pools 17 VI. The Home Market 22 VII. Production and Price 25 VIII. Utilization of Wastes 31 PART Two PICKING I. Time to Pick -. 43 II. Picking Receptacles 46 III. Stems On or Off 47 IV. Conveniences and Inconveniences 48 V. Managing Pickers 52 PART THREE GRADING AND PACKING I. The Practice of Grading 60 II. What is First-grade Fruit? 61 III. The Designation of Grades 63 IV. Sorting Tables 65 V. Good Judgment in Grading . . . ' . . .66 VI. Filling the Package 67 PART FOUR THE FRUIT PACKAGE I. The American Fruit Package . . . . . -73 II. The Apple Barrel .......... 74 III. Berry Packages ......... 77 IV. 'The Grape Basket 79 V. Peach Packages 80 VI. Apples in Boxes 83 VII. Other Fruits and Packages 86 vii viii CONTENTS PAGE VIII. Summary of Packages 88 IX. Wrapping Fruits 89 X. Marks on Packages = 89 PART FIVE FRUIT STORAGE I. Requirements 95 II. Systems of Storage 97 III. Handling the Fruit 109 IV. Temperatures no V. Grape Storage 112 VI.' Storing Vegetables 114 VII. Storage in Pits 117 VIII. Storage in "Dugouts" or "Caves" . . . 121 IX. Mr. T. L. Kinney's House 124 X. A Canadian Fruit House 128 XI. Professor Alwood's Storage House. . . . 131 XII. A Nova Scotia House 138 XIII. Mr. T. B. Wilson's House 141 XIV. Mrs. L. E. Allen's Storage House .... 144 XV. Notes on Various Storage Houses .... 146 XVI. Design for Simple Lean-to Storage . . . 155 XVII. Design for Commodious Hillside Storage . . 157 XVIII. Design for a Thousand-barrel Storage House . 161 XIX. Special Design for Arthur H. Hill . . . .165 PART Six APPENDIX I. Imports and Exports of Fruits, United States . 171 II. Exports of Apples from Canada .... 175 III. State Fruit-package Laws 176 IV. Apple Shippers' Rules 186 V. The National League of Commission Merchants of the United States 189 VI. Commission Charges ....... 206 VII. Shipment in Refrigerator Cars 206 VIII. The Apple Crop and Market 212 IX. The Cranberry Crop 217 X. Handling Southern Grapes 220 INDEX 223 PART ONE The Fruit Market OF THE UNIVERSITY^ F %S THE FRUIT MARKET IT is of prime importance that the man who ex- pects to grow fruit for sale shall understand the fruit market and its requirements. For this reason the discussion of picking, grading, packing, storing, ship- ping, etc., may be postponed until this more funda- mental matter has been investigated. When one knows where his fruit is going and what is to be ex- pected of it, he can the more intelligently prepare to meet the needs and the whims of his customers. Fruit growing for market has increased enormously in extent, and has greatly advanced in its methods during the past twenty years. At the present time it employs vast sums of capital, furnishes a liveli- hood to armies of men, and yields, on the whole, tremendous profits. The most characteristic development of the fruit industry in the United vStates has been along the lines of the wholesale trade, the peculiarities of which are set forth below. At the present time it is unquestion- ably true that America leads the world in the produc- tion of fruit in large quantities and in the perfection with which this fruit is distributed to distant points. The fruit business in general in the United States 2 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING has increased in much greater proportion than other agricultural industries. The following figures, show- ing the percentage of increase in total production of various agricultural crops in the United States between 1850 and 1897, are compiled from a chart in Fairchild's Rural Wealth and Welfare : * PER CENT INCREASE Oats 551 Tobacco 313 Wheat 465 Rye 198 Hay 376 Buckwheat .... 163 Corn 557 Sweet potatoes . . 112 Cotton 355 Sugar 101 Potatoes 331 Rice 60 Butter 323 Barley .... 1,506 Fruits .... 2,000 The increase of total population in the country dur- ing the same period was 270 per cent. But while the increased production of fruit in the United States as a whole has been thus enormous, it has been proportionately still greater in the recog- nized fruit sections. Fifty years ago there were no fruit sections. Now there are neighborhoods prac- tically given up to the growing of strawberries, other localities engaged almost exclusively in peach culture, and still other communities in which the apple is the staple crop. In the eastern states, near the large cities and in the neighborhood of manufacturing towns, the progress of the fruit growing industry is * Fairchild, Rural Wealth and Welfare, u. New York, 1900. THE FRUIT MARKET 3 something marvelous. The following statistics * show something of the trend of agricultural affairs in M assachusetts : VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PROPERTY IN MASSACHUSETTS COMPARISON OF 1885 WITH l8g5 CLASSIFICATION Total value 1885 Total value 1895 /Vr / increase or decrease Total property . . . $216 ,230, 550 $219 ,957 ,214 4- i. 72 Land no 700 7O7 no ,271 ,850 Q OQ Machines, implements, , / ^"-'i / vy / > ^0 V etc . 7 ,-107, QQO 8 ,128 .0^1 4- Q. .87 Build insfs / 74 1 O\7 1 > W 218 77 y *-*J * \ V - * -4- 4-71 Domestic animals, etc. . / ^ 17 ,055- 153 / / 14 ,854 ,417 I *T* / * 12.90 Fruit-trees and vines . 6 ,658, 482 7 ,924 ,878 + 19' 02 VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN MASSACHUSETTS COMPARISON OF 1885 WITH 1895 CLASSIFICATION Total value 1885 Total value 1895 /*^r ri / increase or deer ease Total products .... $47 ,756, 033 $52 ,880 ,431 + 10.73 Dairy products . . . 13 ,080, 526 16 ,234,049 + 24.11 Hay, straw, and fodder . n ,631, 776 12 ,491 ,090 -(- 7-39 Cereals _ g-_ j .- I IO4 578 4O.46 Fruits, berries, and nuts 2 .252, 748 2 ,850 > D i v ,585 -f T^ T^ 6.33 Vegetables c 227, IQ4 6 ^80 ro -f 22.24 Nursery products . . . j , ** / , 138, * VT" 439 182 ^906 32.12 Hothouse and hotbed products 7^ 083 07 ,227 -f 31.42 Greenhouse products 688, V J 813 I V / ,749 ,070 153.92 Inasmuch as the development of a fruit growing * Census of Massachusetts, 1895, pp. 331-333- Massachusetts Bureau of Statistics and I^abor. Boston, 1899. 4 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING industry is oftenest confined to a comparatively small locality or a single neighborhood, the statistics of smaller territories would be more instructive than the statistics of an entire state. Take, for example, the statistics of Plymouth County, Mass., drawn from the same source as the figures compiled above: VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASS. COMPARISON OF 1885 WITH 1895 CLASSIFICATION Total value 1885 Total value 1895 JT cr tern. increase or decrease Total products .... $2,343,878 $3,241,023 + 38-28 Dairy products .... 585,017 731,869 + 20.09 Hothouse and hotbed . 1,805 1,877 + 3-99 Greenhouse products 8,833 28,845 + 226.56 Nursery products . . . 9,358 21,696 + 131-84 Fruits, berries, and nuts 172,144 694,984 + 303-72 Cereals 51,820 20,887 50.60 Hay, straw, and fodder 506,775 626,762 3 V V + 22.68 I. THE TWO MARKETS The fruit markets of the United States may be divided rather sharply into two classes. The first of these may be called the indirect, general, or wholesale market. The second may be distinguished as the direct, special, or retail market. The two are very different in almost all their characteristics, and these differences are of inevitable weight to the fruit grower. Wherefore it will be profitable here to set forth these distinctions with the strongest and most convenient antithesis. The two markets differ, then, in the following particulars : i. Quantity. The general market handles fruits THE FRUIT MARKET 5 in large quantities ; the special market in small quan- tities. 2. Margin of profit. In the general market the profit on each bushel or quart or package is much less (usually) than in the special market. 3. Salesman. The fruit grower who grows fruit in large quantities for the general market sells it through a commission man. He never reaches the final customer. The man who grows fruit in small quantities for a special market frequently, or usually, sells to the customer direct. He is his own salesman. He thus becomes more immediately responsible for his goods. 4. Competition. In the general market one meets the competition of the world. The price of apples in London is influenced by the crop in Tasmania, New Zealand, Canada, or the United States. The price in London (sometimes) influences the price in New York. Missouri apples in the general market meet the apples from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and New York. In the special market the fruit grower meets only local competition ; and when regular customers are secured, even this competition is eliminated. 5. Varieties. The general market demands a few varieties. The private market demands more, and will accept an almost unlimited number. Furthermore, the general market demands standard varieties those which are known, and which are commonly offered in such quantities as to have a regular rating. The pri- vate market cares not whether a variety is a standard or not, so it suits the customer. 6 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 6. Quality. The general market gives adequate consideration to appearance, but pays little attention to quality. Ben Davis and Kieffer, proverbially inferior in quality, are standard and profitable market sorts. In the direct or private market quality is a matter of first importance. Appearance counts for less. 7. Shipping quality. Fruit for the general market must be such as will bear shipment and much rough handling. That for the private market need not sub- mit to this test. 8. Package. The wholesale market requires a standard package. Almost any neat, clean package may be used in the direct market, and sometimes fruit is delivered in bulk, from sacks, boxes, barrels or bas- kets, without any package. In the wholesale market a gift package is practically always required. The man who has private customers frequently has his boxes or baskets returned to him. 9. Season. The general market accepts fruits only in season. There is no sale for Fameuse apples after Christmas, and no general sale for strawberries before April. The private market often pays extra for fruit out of season. The sales of strawberries which are made every year during January and February are made to special customers. Such berries do not come into the general market. II. THE MARKET PROBLEMS There are several successive problems which face the man who grows fruit for sale, whether he have in THE FRUIT MARKET 7 view the general or the special market. The principal problems are the following: 1. Growing the fruit. The fruit must be grown before it can be sold, and fruit growing is a long, long art. Dozens and dozens of books have been written on this subject alone, which is one reason why we may devote this entire book to another subject. The pro- duction of fruit for market is quite a different problem from the growing of fruit for home use. It differs most conspicuously in the fact that the market grower must always count the expense to see that it is kept below the cash returns. The man who grows fruit for his own gratification may do so without regard to expense. (Sometimes he does it without much regard to the fruit!) 2. Grading. Fruit for home use is seldom sorted and never graded. For market grading is indispens- able. We shall devote a chapter to this subject. 3. Packing. "The package sells the fruit" has come to be a fundamental doctrine of the American fruit trade. The selection of a suitable package and the attractive installation of the fruit in it are the best "tricks of the trade." 4. Storage. All fruits, except those which are so perishable as altogether to prevent it, are frequently stored for longer or shorter periods. This permits the grower (or buyer) to regulate the supply of fruit to suit the demand. Glutting of the market is prevented, and better prices are realized. The subject of storage is fully treated in Part V. 8 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 5. Transportation. No other one condition so positively determines the nature, the localization, and the profits of fruit growing as transportation. Facilities and rates are both of paramount importance. This subject is one which does not admit of much general- ization. Shipping facilities are different for every rail- road station, and rates also vary considerably. 6. Discovery of the right market. Finally the man who has fruit to sell must find the man who wants to buy it. Porter apples sell well in Boston, but are not wanted in New York ; Tolman Sweet sells in Phila- delphia, but can't be given away in Rochester. In a more general way it may be said that the man who has grown many fancy varieties for a special market must find his private customers. It will not do for him to ship to a city commission man. Equally the man who has grown large quantities of standard sorts, like Ben Davis and Kieffer, need not search for a fancy home trade. I know a man who has 1,000 to 2,000 barrels of fine apples every year, and who is dis- gusted that he can not sell them in his home town for as much as they will bring in New York. But the fact and the explanation is that his whole business is run on the general market plan. III. COMMISSION MEN Fruit which goes into the general or wholesale market is practically all handled through the media- tion of the commission man. As the general market is the one most sought in America, it follows that the commission man has flourished and multiplied and re- plenished the earth. His presence seems to be ab- THE FRUIT MARKET 5 solutely necessary to the sale of fruit in large quantities, though growers have mostly come to regard his pres- ence as a necessary evil. According to the ordinary practice, the grower ships his strawberries, his plums, or muskmelons to a certain commission man in the city say to Murphy & McBride, of Baltimore. Murphy & McBride send a postal card acknowledging the receipt of the shipment, and specifying that the fruit was received in good or bad condition, as the case may be. When the fruit is sold they make their returns to the shipper. If Murphy & McBride are honest and solvent the returns are made promptly, ac- companied by a check for the balance due the shipper. The memorandum returned to the shipper shows the packages of fruit sold, the selling price of each lot, and the gross amount received. Kxpress or freight charges are deducted, as is also the commission charged. The accompanying copy of an account sales will give a clearer idea of the transaction. This arrangement works very well if the commis- sion house is thoroughly honest, and if a condition equally important the fruit shipper is also honest. As soon as either one begins to cheat the whole basis of the business is immediately destroyed and the most deplorable results follow. Unfortunately the stren- uous competition among commission men, as well as the profound duplicity of many consignors, forces every commission house with the least pregnable con- science into some form or other of cheating. The simplest trick, of course, is to sell a consignment of fruit for a hundred dollars and return only seventy- five. But there are hundreds of others quite as effect- 10 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING ive and equally well known to the experienced fruit dealer. The result, as a whole, has been to give the commission men the reputation among fruit growers of a band of unprincipled thieves. Sometimes this C. W. KINNEY, FRUITS, * PRODUCE, * ETC., 276 WASHINGTON STREET. FIG. I ACCOUNT SALES FROM A NEW YORK COMMISSION HOUSE reputation is deserved. Much oftener*it is not. Some- times the shipper is as bad as the commission man. This organization of the fruit trade is certainly far from ideal. The shipper is completely at the mercy of the commission man. The whole bargain is on one side of the transaction. It will take a long time, how- ever, to change matters to another system. The present writer certainly disclaims any intention of offering a new system. If the following suggestions THE FRUIT MARKET II are carefully observed, however, it will go far toward mitigating the evils which one meets in dealing with commission men: 1. Stick to one man. If it seems necessary to ship to two or three markets as to Pittsburg, Philadel- phia, and New York stick to a single commission house in each city, but, as far as possible, ship to a single market. The man who is conducting business on a very large scale, like J. H. Hale or Roland Mor- ril, and who can keep his hand on the commission men, can afford to transgress this rule. Such men are superior to all rules. Most of us are not. For the ordinary fruit grower and shipper this rule of dealing always with one commission firm is of the utmost con- sequence. 2. Ship the same varieties year after year, and make the grade just as uniform as possible. Even if some- thing short of the best fruit is shipped, uniformity of grade is highly advantageous. The commission house knows what to expect, and customers get used to the brand and the grade. There are hundreds of shippers growing all classes of fruits whose products are com- monly already sold when they arrive in the market. Uniform and honest packing does it. 3. Select a brand which is neat, catchy, and not too large, and see that it goes on every package. Some men have made reputations and money out of their brands. 4. Grade and pack with the most rigid honesty. Don't try to cheat a commission man. It can't be 12 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING done. The commission man has the last turn, and he is absolutely sure to protect himself, whatever happens to the shipper. Moreover, any evidence of dishonesty immediately destroys the dealer's confidence in that consignor, and selling is seriously interfered with. Thereafter packages must be opened and examined before they are sold, and they are not offered to the best customers. 5. Follow the advice of the commission man as far as possible when you have settled on a good one. Ship fruit when he wants it. Send the varieties and grades that he wants, and in every other feasible way con- form to the requirements of his business. His busi- ness is the fruit grower's business. He is the fruit grower's agent. He should be treated as such. IV. THE FOREIGN MARKET Before leaving the general subject of the wholesale market, it may be best to give some attention to the European outlet for fruit. There are considerable quantities of apples shipped from the United States to Europe every year, the larger majority going to Eng- land. A few shippers have their regular European customers, who require a certain quantity of American apples each year. The Albemarle Pippins of Virginia and the Newtown Pippins of New York are particular favorites in England with special buyers. There are hardly any of our hardy fruits except the apple, how- ever, ever shipped out of the United States. Mr. Peter Barr, I remember, was very sure, when he was visiting here, that a good trade in American grapes could be built up in London by proper management. THK FRUIT MARKET His belief is based on the best of reasons, but as yet there is no export business to speak of in this line. Shipments of fruit from Canada to England and Scotland are more regular, and, at least comparatively, CORN-EXCHANGE BUILDINGS. 27 FENNEL STREEti ACCOUNT SALES _______ Sold for account / 22 by t 3ff 91 14 HO yd L /o t />' /Z L t, Y y "> / 2 CRARQEB? Frtight Duty Paid Manchttter Ship Canal Tolls and Quay Cfutrgti Cartage and Porterage at Docks ^and Warehousing- Sampling and Taring Clearing and Forwarding Warehouse Kent Fire Insurance Interest on Freight * Brokerage & i- ft - Postages, dc. / * y to /i V FIG. 2 ACCOUNT SALES OF CANADIAN APPLES SOLD IN MANCHESTER, ENGLAND 14 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING are much greater. The Canadian home market, though unapproachably good in certain localities, is not, on the whole, at all equal to the large city markets of the States, either in capacity or liberality. This is one reason why exportation is commoner. Another reason lies in the closer political and trade connections between Canada and England; while a final and very important reason is that the Canadian government has system- atically assisted in these exportations. Naturally the chief exports from Canada are apples. Nova Scotia, in particular, has a high reputation for its export apple trade. Other fruits, however, have been shipped to some extent, and in an experimental way a great many different things have been sent over, such as peaches, grapes, and tomatoes. While each one of these has been successfully shipped and sold in particular in- stances, no regular business has been established with any fruit except the apple. Possibly the pear comes nearest to being an exception, but the Canadian ex- portation of pears is still a small matter. Perhaps when the Canadian Kieffer orchards get to bearing, this will be changed. In years of excessive crops, however, when the markets of the United States are over-supplied, the European outlet becomes a very important factor in the situation. This was most conspicuously the case in 1896, when the bumper apple crop of America was harvested. It seems perfectly certain, so far as we can know anything for ^ie future, that there will never again be such a congestion and such a stressful com- petition in the fruit market. Certainly something was learned in 1896 concerning the European market, and THE FRUIT MARKET 15 whenever another large crop comes exportations will be more carefully and intelligently handled. As a primary consideration it is plain that Ameri- can shippers could take much better advantage of the European market if they could supply it more regu- CANADIAN APPLES ex Manchester Trader. ' I 1 f| | || - ' - -Barrek AHlVuittA- 49 Greenings IS (?) 13 M'3 Son 50 34 (I damp) 34 11/9 Fruit Grovm-> 51 20 2G I 2/~ Grimsliy, Oat. 52 ,, 17 ( 1 ; 3 59 -I ' 4 12,3 60 < hi Sltew - 4 14/C. 61 "Wealthy"" 1 2 St. Lawrence 'J FIG. 3 REPORT OF SALES OF CANADIAN FRUITS AT MANCHES- TER, ENGLAND, SHOWING "SLACKS" AND "WETS" larly. Shipping a great quantity of fruit one year and leaving the market vacant the next year does not foster, but rather prevents, the establishment of a profitable business. Considerable markets for our apples were opened in continental Europe in 1896, and a horticultural friend of mine who traveled there in 1897 told me that there was a frequent call for Ameri- 1 6 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING can apples and a general disappointment that none were offered. The crop of 1897 was short, however, and prices were so good in New York, Boston, Phila- delphia, and Baltimore that nobody cared to take the risk of shipping to Germany. This is likely to be the situation at least for many years to come. When shipments are made to the European market certain precautions are to be observed. First, only firm, solid fruit of fine appearance should be shipped. As in the general domestic market, high quality is not so important as attractive appearance. But the fruit must be the very best in shipping quality, and such as will sell for the highest price. This is imperative. Freights and other charges are so high that they con- sume the entire receipts from poor or mediocre fruit. It costs just as much to ship and sell a barrel of poor apples as a barrel of good ones, and it is only on the good barrel that there is enough left over to bring any- thing back to the shipper. In the second place, considerably greater pains than usual must be taken in packing. The ocean voyage, often on a lurching, pitching ship, and the rough handling on the docks, severely test the best packing. If there is the least slack space the fruit immediately begins to be bruised, and, in many cases, arrives in the market a shapeless mess of mush. The circum- stances would indicate the propriety of shipping fruit wrapped and packed in small packages. Unfortunately for the theory of it, this treatment has not been gener- ally profitable with apples. Perhaps it will do better in the future. In the third place, European shipments should be THE FRUIT MARKET 17 confined, as far as possible, to a few well-known and standard varieties. Ben Davis apples generally do well. Kiefier pears have not been well received; but there are too many good pears grown in Europe. Per- haps Kieffers will do better after the marketmen get accustomed to them. V. SELLING ASSOCIATIONS POOLS The inherent weaknesses of the relation between fruit grower and commission man, and the very un- satisfactory result of that relation in special cases, have often led to earnest, almost desperate, effort to escape from the situation. There appear to be two favorite avenues of retreat. The first leads toward the special or private fruit market, and the man who follows it attempts to transfer his business to the basis of the personal or direct market. The situation as respects this personal market is fully discussed further on in this chapter. The second way of escape from the commission dealer leads in the direction of cooperative selling, selling associations, pools, and the like. In the latter case the business remains on the wholesale basis the fruit growers still attack the general market. Numerous associations of this character, some com- prising only two or three neighbors, some involving large capital and considerable organization, have been formed in this country. On the whole, their experi- ence has not been encouraging. Such organizations, however, are most admirable in theory (if one leaves out of consideration certain fundamental principles and looks only at external circumstances). The theoreti- 1 8 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING cal reasons (all of them sound) usually urged in favor of cooperative marketing are about as follows: 1. Distribution. An association of fruit growers can secure a better distribution of the crop. Instead of rushing all the fruits into one convenient market, as independent growers are apt to do, thereby causing a glut while leaving other markets vacant, the associa- tion can distribute the crop to suit the demand at all the various points within reach. In the case of per- ishable fruits, where rapid handling and quick sales are imperative, an association can maintain telegraphic communication wi h all the markets, and is thus en- abled to ship to-day to one point and to-morrow to another, according to the fluctuating general supply at each point. 2. Salesmen. An association can employ salesmen. These may be either traveling "drummers," who visit dealers hither and yonder, seeking an outlet for the fruit handled by the association, or they may be resident salesmen, who handle goods just as the com- mission houses do, but who work on a salary instead of at a commission. 3. Economy. An association can operate more economically. Storage can be secured when needed. Men can be hired to better advantage. Fruit pack- ages can be bought in large quantities at lower rates. Sometimes fertilizers are bought through the associa- tion, and other economies effected. 4. Transportation. An association can secure better transportation rates. On account of the larger THE FRUIT MARKET 19 volume of business, transportation companies will com- pete for the traffic ; and even when competition amounts to little, material shipping concessions can sometimes be secured by an association having a con- siderable quantity of fruit to handle. 5. Grading. An association can establish a uni- form grade. If this could actually be done in prac- tice it would be a matter of first consequence. Else- where the importance of uniform grading for the general market is elucidated more in detail. The fact is, however, that tremendous difficulties arise when an association endeavors to establish a standard grade; and these difficulties grow rapidly greater as the standard of grading is advanced. Nevertheless, what- ever approach the association is able to make toward uniform packing and grading is an advantage to the business. 6. Command of the market. Certain large markets are at the command of an association handling quan- tities of fruit, though the same markets will not han- dle small and irregular shipments. 7. Restriction of output. An association, in certain cases, can influence prices in its own favor by control- ling the output to some extent. Many of these advantages are so obvious, and apparently so easy to attain, that the fruit-selling association has been a rather common experiment. There are three fundamental difficulties, however, in the way of their success, and the drawbacks have usually proved more powerful than the advantages. 20 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING The principal troubles which have to be met are these : i. Distrust. All classes of farmers are constitu- tionally and proverbially distrustful of other people and of one another. In a fruit association there arise such is the experience the most inveterate jealous- ies. Bach man thinks he is furnishing a better grade of fruit than his neighbor, though all share alike in the profits. Bach one fears the other will reap some special advantage somehow. In particular, the ap- pointment of managers, superintendents, supervisors of grading, shipping agents, and all other officials of the company, offers a sufficient opportunity for the elaboration of all sorts of neighborhood quarrels. Bach man thinks he ought to be manager, and when one man is finally chosen he is usually suspected of all Sorts of favoritism. In any case he is apt to be ham- pered in his business relations by committees, boards of directors, and various kinds of red tape and foolish- ness. Often he has to consult a committee before taking any important action. Think of J. H. Hale consulting a committee before selling a couple of car- loads of peaches, or of T. B. Wilson calling a directors' meeting to see if he should accept or refuse $3.45 a barrel for his apples ! Most men don't even consult their wives ! Another difficulty which arises from the same cause is that the subscribers to such an association never want to pay a manager manager's wages. Two or three dollars a day is considered good pay. Yet such a man is compelled at times to handle thousands THE FRUIT MARKET 21 of dollars' worth of business. The position is such as, in ordinary business life, would often command a sal- ary of five thousand dollars a year or more. 2. Irregularity in grading. Unless all the fruit can pass practically under the eye and through the hands of one man, -it is impossible to preserve a uniform grade. If, as often happens, the sorting is done by a committee, selected more with a view to mollifying the feelings of sundry subscribers than to the expertness of the packers, then all sorts of grading result. Then the association sends out one grade of fruit to-day as XXX and another grade to-morrow under the same mark. This kind of business immediately de- stroys the confidence of the purchaser, while demand and price decrease. This difficulty of maintaining a uniform grade for a fruit association has proven, in practice, to be one of the most serious. 3. Inversion of competition. In the ordinary course of trade, including the sale of fruit, the best fruit brings the most money and pays the largest profit. A man has every incentive, therefore, to grow the best fruit he can and to pack it as well as he knows how. When interests are pooled in a selling association, the poor fruit brings just as much as the good. The man who can squeeze in the poorest fruit, grown and handled at the least cost, thus makes the largest profit. The competition is thus turned from the production of the best fruit to the production of the worst. Every man tries to see how poorly he can do. The eternal law of progress, that law which provides for the sur- vival of the fittest, is abrogated, and, temporarily, the 22 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING preference goes to the unfittest. This matter is of such fundamental importance that, of itself, it is capable of overcoming all the theoretical advantages of coopera- tive organization enumerated above. Cooperation has been successful in some cases; but the writer does not know of any conspicuous instance of such success, nor of any continuously successful organization on any scale. VI. THE HOME MARKET To reach the general fruit market one has to grow the varieties which the market demands. In supply- ing the home trade one may cultivate the market to take what he has to offer. This difference sometimes amounts to a great deal. One may be able in this way to lead his customers to buy those things which he can produce most easily and profitably. For the most part, the greatest success in the home market is reached when the fruit handled is of the highest possible quality. A few customers who will take an extra select grade at a fancy price are better than many customers who are satisfied with a second- rate fruit, but who will not pay more than the green- grocer's price. Fruit should be supplied regularly to personal customers in the home market. Buying fruit is merely a habit in many families, and the habit is most readily noticeable by its absence in the majority of households. If the fruit wagon stops every Tuesday and Saturday, or even once a week, the mere regularity of the visit presently begins to sell some goods. Fruit should also be supplied continuously through THE FRUIT MARKET 23 as long a season as possible. In the home market one can not depend on disposing of a large quantity at once, and the bulk of business must accrue through the extension of the season. This requires that the man who supplies the home market must grow a con- siderable variety of fruits. He should be able to start the season with strawberries, to follow these with rasp- berries, these with dewberries or blackberries, or both, these with cherries, these with early plums and green gooseberries, later to bring green apples and the first peaches, and so on through the year. Frequently cer- tain vegetables can be handled to advantage with fruits, particularly such things as tomatoes, muskmelons, and the like. In general, however, the man who is most successful in fruit growing is not equally successful in vegetable growing. It is hardly good policy to try to handle a complete line of both fruits and vegetables. Onions and strawberries do not combine well. Besides seeking to handle the best grades of fruit, the man who supplies his own private customers should use all pains to have everything as neat and clean as forethought and sapolio can make them. The baskets and packages should be fresh and spotless. The boy who comes to the door should wear a conspicuously white apron. The fruit should be delivered in a neat covered wagon, bearing just enough advertising and not too much. Everybody should know whose de- livery wagon it is and what it carries ; but no one should be able at a little distance to mistake the turn- out for a traveling medicine outfit or the advertising wagon of a coming circus. Announcement should always be made in advance 24 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING of fruits that are coming into market. Let the de- liveryman say, "We shall have some Shaffer rasp- berries next week. They are not very pretty, but they make A No. i shortcake;" or, " Next week we can bring you some Duchess apples. They are first- class for sauce or jelly. ' ' I know one fruit grower who is very successful in a small local market, and who announces his wares in the local newspaper every week. His little advertisement says: JONES'S FRUIT FARM This week we have the last of the straw- berries big, fine, juicy Gandys, at 25 cents a quart. They're the last you get this year, and about the best. We also have some fine lettuce. Next week we shall offer the first raspberries, which will cost 35 cents a quart and will be worth it. A good liberal price not excessive should be fixed each day for each grade of goods, and should not be cut under for any reason whatsoever. It is much better to carry the whole stock home and put it in the cannery or the dry-house than to allow the price to be higgled down. A man who expects to deal with the same customers month after month must be absolutely immovable at this point. The matter of collections belongs to general business and is not properly a part of the fruit trade. Still, it is the most important part of the marketman's business, and should be managed with the utmost care. It is always best to insist on prompt and regular payments. THE FRUIT MARKET 25 It is better to sacrifice a liberal patron than to allow collections to get badly behind. The importance of this matter is proved by the experience of hundreds and hundreds of marketmen everywhere. VII. PRODUCTION AND PRICK Over-production is a word which has often been conjured with in the discussion of agricultural topics. It seems usually to have served for the confusion of the hearer and usually for the equal confusion of the speaker. Over-production is commonly used to mean two widely different things. In some cases it is in- tended to mean the production of more fruit or grain than can be consumed; in other cases it means merely the offer of more fruit or grain than the market will accept at the price asked. In the former sense there is no such thing as over- production of fruit, and probably not of any agricul- tural crop. It is said that there can be no over-pro- duction of wheat while thousands of people are hungry and starving. There are always plenty of people hungry for strawberries, even when the market is most hopelessly glutted. There is, absolutely speaking, no over-production ; there is simply an over-supply. The term over-supply ought to be substituted for over-production in almost all discussions, since over- supply is the thing usually discussed. The problem of over-production will never worry a fruit grower, but over-supply is one of his greatest dangers. Over-supply is merely one of the extremes in the ever-fluctuating ratio of supply and demand. It should be considered, therefore, as incidental to the 26 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING fundamental problem. Its real significance will appear more clearly in the course of the following study of demand, supply, and price. Two entirely independent conditions influence the price of any commodity. The first is cost of produc- tion. In a general way, as every one knows, the price of an article must be determined by what it costs to make it. It costs more to produce a barrel of apples than to produce a quart of strawberries, and the apples necessarily sell for a correspondingly higher price. But, aside from the cost of production, the rela- tion of supply and demand determine the price. Prices increase with demand and diminish with supply. The mathematician would say that demand divided by supply gives price; or he would write it in the form of an equation, thus : or he might say that price is the expression of the ratio between demand and supply. Whatever he might say it would be no clearer than the practical fact that when peaches are plenty the price goes down, and when they are scarce it goes up. Now as the supply increases and price decreases, a point is reached presently where the market price equals cost of production. The margin of profit has been wiped out, and that market may properly be said to be over-supplied with the commodity in ques- tion. Sometimes fruit continues to be offered at prices below the cost of production, but such offerings can not long be continued. The cost of production thus THE FRUIT MARKET 27 forms the lower limit in the varying ratio of demand and supply. Since price is the quotient of demand and supply, it follows that anything which influences either has a direct effect upon price. A study of the causes affect- ing prices thus becomes a study of the conditions affecting both supply and demand. As the question of price is the one lying nearest the fruit grower's pocketbook, we may properly examine these conditions in detail, even at the risk of being tedious. The conditions affecting the market supply are production, transportation, information, perishability, storage. i. Production. The larger the crop, other things being equal, the greater the market offerings. The market was glutted with apples in 1896 simply be- cause of large production. Peaches were scarce in the Boston wholesale markets in 1899 merely because very few peaches were raised that year. Production, in turn, depends on the weather how much, every fruit grower knows on frost and hail, or on timely rains. Production depends also on the ease with which a crop is grown. Anybody can grow apples that is, some kind of apples ; and that is why the apple market is so apt to be over-supplied in a good year. Very few people can grow nectarines or apri- cots, and, in consequence, an over-supply of these fruits is less likely to occur. Production varies also with price. Higher prices stimulate production. Low prices diminish production. Thus our equation reacts upon itself. The mathe- 28 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING matics of it are spoiled; but that ought not to draw a complaint from the mathematician., for the same cir- cumstances have often spoiled the calculations of the fruit grower. This stimulation which high prices give to production tends to set a maximum limit on price that is, to the varying ratio of demand and supply. 2. Transportation, Next to production, transpor- tation facilities chiefly determine the quantity of fruit offered in a given market. Increased transportation facilities, therefore, by bringing larger quantities of fruit to market, tend to depress prices. This rule is hardly open to exception; but it must be noted that though prices may be reduced, the grower's net profits may be increased. 3. Information. The rapid circulation of informa- tion concerning markets tends powerfully to regulate the distribution of a fruit crop. It sometimes happens that the Cincinnati market is glutted with grapes on the very day when the people of Pittsburg are almost bereft of that comforting fruit. But where shippers are properly informed, these mistakes of distribution do not occur. This is one of the best features of sell- ing associations or pools. See page 18. 4. Perishability. The more perishable fruits show extreme fluctuations in supply. When strawberries are ripe they have to be sold; and as they ripen rapidly during hot weather and at the hight of the season, the supply increases enormously at such times. 5. Storage. Facilities for fruit storage equalize the supply, making it less at the hight of the season and greater in succeeding weeks. THIC FRUIT MARKET 29 The conditions affecting the demand for any given class of fruits are price, quality, acquaintance, season, supply of other fruits. 1 . Price. It has already been seen that price influ- ences production, and so reacts on itself. But it influ- ences demand still more, thus reacting doubly upon itself. Nothing else will move a quantity of fruit so quickly as an attractive reduction in price. 2. Quality. Good fruit sells much more rapidly than poor fruit. The buyer who gets a good package of fruit will likely want another. Poor fruit is apt to lag in the market at any price. 3. Acquaintance. Buyers call for those fruits with which they are acquainted. There is a steady demand for Baldwin apples and practically none for Sutton, though Sutton is a much fairer and better apple of the same season. The reason is that Baldwin is known to everybody, while Sutton is a stranger. A friend of mine had to give away his De Soto plums the first year because nobody knew what they were ; but the suc- ceeding year his customers asked for them and pre- ferred them to Lombards. There is only a small mar- ket for American apples in continental Europe, for the single reason that American apples are hardly known there. When the excessive crop of 1896 forced Ameri- can apples into German markets they found friends, and in 1897 German buyers were anxiously inquiring for the fruit they could not get. The Canadian gov- ernment, in seeking to stimulate the demand for Canadian apples 'in England, does so chiefly by making the fruit better known to English consumers. 30 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING 4. Season, There is an urgent demand for limited quantities of certain fruits out of their normal season. Hothouse strawberries and tomatoes usually bring dis- proportionately high prices. For the most part, how- ever, the greatest volume of demand coincides with the market season of each fruit. Fameuse apples are wanted in November and December, and Northern Spy in February and March. Strawberries are wanted in strawberry season, while a month later most people prefer raspberries. The demand for certain fruits at certain seasons, however, is sometimes due to more recondite causes. Thus there is, in the eastern states, a demand for early plums and for late plums, while mid-season varieties are apt to go begging. This is because the few early plums are wanted for eating fresh, while the late ones are used for canning. Dur- ing August the housewives are either at the seashore or on the back porch trying to keep cool. Nobody wants to stand over a hot stove canning plums during dog days. But when vacation is over and the days are cooler the housewives' thoughts begin to turn to the winter supply of canned fruits, and then the late- ripening Green Gages, Italian prunes, and Damsons come into strong demand. 5. Supply of other fruits. When bananas are ex- cessively plenty and cheap, fruit eaters hesitate to pay large prices for apples. When peaches are low in price they are canned in preference to high-priced plums. The price of plums, in fact, is apt to be determined by the supply of peaches. Thus the supply of one fruit affects the demand for others throughout the list. THE FRUIT MARKET 3! All these factors must be kept in view by the fruit grower who is studying the price of his goods. It will be seen, however, that certain of these conditions are more within the control of the individual fruit grower than others. So far as his own goods are concerned, the price at which they will sell depends chiefly on quality, season, perishability, and storage. These fac- tors he can determine for himself at least to a large extent and to them he will naturally give his prin- cipal attention. VIII. UTILIZATION OF WASTES Fruit growing is essentially a manufacturing busi- ness. The points in which the production of a fine grade of strawberries agree with the production of men's ready-made shirts are many, and an extensive comparison of the two lines of business might be made with profit, except that it would be too much of a digression to fit with the simple plan of this essay. In most lines of manufacturing the saving of the wastes and the utilization of by-products are highly important parts of the business. Some manufacturers actually lose money on the main output, while paying good dividends out of the by-products. The packing- house men say that they can lose money on every beef animal killed, and yet make money enough out of cowhides and the fertilizer tank to save themselves handsomely. A friend of mine who used to help Mr. Armour handle pork told me that they saved every jot and scrap of the hog except his dying squeal, and that they hoped presently to contract that to the gov- ernment for use in fog-horns. 32 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Now nothing is more obvious than that the fruit grower meets with serious wastes. Sometimes a third part of his peaches are unsuitable for the market, and apple growers occasionally throw out more apples than they put into the barrels. Any profit which might be wrung from these wastes would be especially accept- able. Unfortunately it must be said that the utilization of fruit wastes has never proved conspicuously suc- cessful; and, furthermore, that, in the majority of instances where something has been done, the profit has not accrued chiefly to the man who grew the fruit. The causes which have contributed to this result will become more obvious, perhaps, in the course of the following discussion. The principal ways of using waste or cull fruits are drying, canning, preserving, jelly making, manufacture of cider, vinegar, spirits, etc. A few words on each of these may suffice. i . Drying and evaporating . One of the best uses to which cull fruit can be put is to dry it or evaporate it. Formerly the home manufacture of dried apples, dried peaches, dried pumpkins, etc. , was common in all the farming districts of the United States at least, in the north and home-dried fruit was to some extent an article of barter in the country stores. That day has passed. Home-dried apples and peaches went out with home-knit socks and home-made soap. There are still families who dry their own apples, just as there are some who still make soap and knit socks; but for the most part these have all been given up. The change THK FRUIT MARKET 33 has been the same in all cases, and has resulted from the same causes. It is cheaper to buy soap than to make it, easier to get ready-made socks than to knit them, and equally easier to buy dried fruit than to dry it one's self. It is a question of division of labor. The man or the stock company that makes a FIG. 4 SIMPLEST FORM OF EVAPORATOR. MADE TO SET UPON THE KITCHEN STOVE business of drying fruit on a large scale can do the work to much greater advantage than the farmer or the farmer's wife. His product is more uniform, better in appearance, and perhaps also better in quality than the home-made article, while at the same time it can be sold at a much lower price. Fruit drying and evaporating, therefore, has been almost wholly taken out of the fruit growers' hands, and has fallen under the management of specialists. Under ordinary circumstances the fruit grower has nothing to do with it except to deliver his peaches or 34 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING his blackberries at the dry-house. As this book is written for the fruit grower we need not examine closely into the business of the fruit buyer, the cold storage manager, the transportation company, the evaporating house, or the outside speculator. We are concerned only in the home drying of fruit, and such drying is nearly obsolete. We may be sorry that it is so; but that does not change the fact, and it need not lead us aside from the present discussion. All sorts of fruit can be dried or evaporated ; so can many vegetables. Apples, peaches, apricots, plums, blackberries, and raspberries, among the fruits, are especially good when well evaporated ; and corn and pumpkins are most prized of the vegetables. Different varieties behave differently in drying, de- pending largely on texture and water content. These differences are particularly noticeable among apples. The general nature and range of these variations may be seen from the following table, giving the amount of dried fruit secured from the bushel of green fruit, and the approximate time required for drying : Pounds to Hours required the bushel to evaporate Roxbury Russet 9 i^ to 2 Swaar 5^ i% to 2^ Gilliflower 4^ i% to 2^ Twenty-ounce 5 2 to 2^ Holland Pippin 5 2 to 2^J Seek-no-further 4% 2 to 2^J Spitzenberg 6j| 2 to 2% Greening 6 2 to 2^| Fall Pippin 6 2 to 2^ Belleflower $% 2^ to 2% Baldwin 6>| 2^ to 2% King $Y 2 2%to 3 M THE FRUIT MARKET 35 FIG. $ A MORE ELABORATE COOK STOVE EVAPORATOR From the above table it will be seen that it is better, when apples are to be dried, to assort them, drying the kinds that are most alike together. Very simple evaporators can be bought for home use. The two shown in Figs. 4 and 5 are of this 36 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING nature. Both are made to sit directly upon an ordinary cook stove or kitchen range, and to take their heat from that source. Such machines will dry from one to two bushels of green fruit a day. The capacities of the larger as well as of the smaller evaporators may be judged from the following figures, taken from the circular of the Vermont Farm Machine Co. : Size Capacity. Trays Inch 's Bushels per day of green ft uit No. o* 5 20 x 20 i to 2 No. oo* 6 20 x 24 2 to 3 No. i 7 22 x 28 3 to 4 No. 2 10 22 x 31 6 to 8 No. 3 13 22 x 34 12 to 16 No. 3^ 13 30x34 16 to 22 No. 4 15 30x48 301040 No. 5 18 30x54 50 to 60 The prices of these machines range from $15 for No. o to $175 for the No. 5. These may be taken as representative of the prices charged by other manu- facturers for similar apparatus. The more elaborate machines are built on the same general principles as the smaller ones, except that they are provided with their own furnaces. Figure 6 shows a typical machine of the larger sort. This particular machine is rated to evaporate eighteen to twenty-five bushels of apples in twenty-four hours. The general manipulation of the small evaporators is fairly simple, and they are not subject to accidents or serious difficulties. The following directions given by the manufacturers for the management of one of the smaller machines will apply to nearly all others, * No furnace ; used on kitchen stove. THK FRUIT MARKET 37 and serve to show the general requirements of home evaporation : "A moderately hot stove or range is all that is re- quired as to heat. Keep all the plates or covers on the stove^ and set the drier on the top. Each tray holds one and a half to two quarts of berries, cherries, etc., FIG. 6 A FULL-FLEDGED EVAPORATOR, HAVING ITS OWN FURNACE without obstructing the hot air currents. Do not put more in a tray. Enter all trays with fresh fruit next to the stove, and change from lower to upper tracks, as other trays are entered, or as the drying progresses. When nearly done, the contents of a couple of trays may be put upon one, and fresh fruit entered and the operation continued indefinitely. Avoid putting the fruit on the trays so thick, either fresh or in doubling 38 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING that partially dried, so as to obstruct the free circula- tion of the hot air currents through the machine, as this checks rapid work. Avoid scorching by moder- ate firing and close attention to frequent changing of the trays. If sulphur is to be used to prevent oxida- tion and secure a bright, handsome color for apples, pears, and peaches, simply drop a piece of brimstone about size of a medium bean on the stove; close to or under the drier, and it will ignite and the fumes will be drawn upward through the machine and do the work. If you are operating in a close room or kitchen, and the smell is objectionable, you can fill the trays and put them in a box or barrel, with a cover on, and burn a little sulphur under them out in the open air, and then enter the trays in the machine. Procure a piece of mosquito-netting to throw over the machine when set aside, to guard against flies and other insects. This will not be in the way when on the stove. Do not cover top of machine with paper or a close cloth when in use, as it would stop the hot air currents going through it and prevent its working well, or at all. " The use of sulphur, as suggested above for the bleaching of the fruit, is frequently practiced. If carefully done, it gives excellent results. The fruit is made more attractive in appearance, it keeps better, and the flavor is unaffected. Excessive sulphuring, however, gives a less desirable color, and destroys the flavor of the fruit. In extreme cases the fruit is ren- dered totally uneatable, and even poisonous. 2. Canning. The canning industry has enjoyed an unparalleled development in the United States during THE FRUIT MARKET 39 the last twenty-five years, and more particularly during the last decade. This will appear from certain figures given in the Appendix. The can- ning industry, proper, does not belong to the fruit grower, however. In certain cases the fruit grower plants, tends, and harvests fruit especially for the canning factory. In such cases the cannery is to be looked on as the fruit market, and is to be treated just the same as any other fruit market under similar con- ditions. In a good many instances, however, the can- neries are located near large fruit markets (particu- larly about Baltimore), and depend to a considerable extent for their supply of fruit on the waste from the general market. They take the second-class and damaged consignments off the hands of the commission men. Thus an outlet is made for much waste fruit; but this outlet is not in the fruit grower's control. Home canning, although highly to be recom- mended, seldom reaches such proportions as to affect the fruit market, even of the individual who does the canning. In home canning, moreover, the best fruit is apt to be selected, so that it is no longer a problem of utilizing wastes. The work, therefore, has little connection, direct or indirect, with the business of fruit marketing. 3. Other methods. Waste apples are sometimes fed to stock, especially to cows, sheep, and hogs. It is still a question what their feeding value is, though it is certainly not very great. It is better to feed waste fruit to stock than to make no use of it at all. Other fruits besides apples are sometimes fed to stock, par- 40 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING ticularly to pigs. It is said that pigs will eat anything but tomatoes and tobacco. Cider making, in some cir- cumstances, offers a more or less profitable outlet for waste apples; and peaches occasionally develop into peach brandy. Perhaps the best brandy made in this country is distilled from apricots; but taken altogether, the production of brandy or other spirits from fruit in America wine making excepted is not important enough to affect the general fruit business. Wine making is a subject by itself, and can not be treated here. Cider manufacture, likewise, should be treated with wine making rather than with fruit marketing. PART TWO Picking PICKING The marketing of fruit really begins with the pick- ing. In fact, a great many buyers go to the fields, bargain for the fruit on the trees, and attend to the picking, grading, and packing themselves. Even when the grower holds his own fruit for a consider- able time between picking and selling, his method of handling it in the market must all be foreseen at picking time, and the picking must be managed in a way to fit in with the general plan of marketing. i. TIME To PICK The perishable fruits are picked for market some time before they are really ripe. The exact time can be determined only by experience. It will depend on the distance the fruit has to be shipped, on the ship- ping quality of the variety, and on other considera- tions. Strawberries are picked as soon as they color. Red raspberries are left till they begin to soften slightly. Black raspberries are picked as soon as they will part from the receptacle on which they grow.. Blackberries and dewberries are usually picked as soon as they are evenly colored. Gooseberries are often, in fact usually, picked while yet quite green. Currants are allowed to color, but must be picked before they are ripe, especially if they are to be of any use in jelly making the end to which they are oftenest destined. 43 44 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Grapes are picked when they are ready, and it takes a man of experience to tell when that is. In the north- ern states, however, they may be allowed to hang late on the vines. In some vineyards the later varieties are habitually left out several days after the frost has removed most of the leaves from the vines. Thus they 'get the late autumn sun, and ripen up with a sweetness and a perfection otherwise unattainable in the short northern season. Peaches and apricots are picked as soon as they show the first traces of ripening. The well-trained picker tests each fruit by taking it between his thumb and fingers, and feeling of it with the ball of his thumb. The fruit is not squeezed nor bruised; but if it has the faintest feeling of mellowness its time has come, and the picker transfers it to his basket. Cherries are picked just before they ripen, and the best test for ripeness is to eat a few. After one gets the standard fixed in his mind by this simple and effective test he can tell by the color of the fruit whether it is at the desired stage or not. Plums will bear picking when decidedly green at least, many plums will, the Japanese varieties in par- ticular. If they are destined for a near-by market they can be allowed to get fairly ripe, and in nearly all cases they should be allowed to hang as long as possible, except when they are wanted for jelly making. Most of the Japanese plums and some others ripen very nicely after picking, and they may be kept for three or four weeks even in a moderately cool, dark place, and come out ripe, juicy, and fit. In extreme cases they can be kept considerably longer. Some of the native PICKING 45 plums, like Wildgoose and Pottawattamie, are apt to break their skins when overripe, and additional pre- cautions have to be observed to pick such varieties sufficiently green. Pears are usually taken from the tree before they are ripe, and are stored in a moderately cool, dark place to ripen. They should not be piled up too deeply. For marketing it is probably best to pack them temporarily in boxes and baskets convenient for handling. In case they are to go to market soon they may even be packed directly into the permanent boxes or baskets, and these packages may be placed in the storage room. Aside from the Kieifers and the Cali- fornia fruit, the pear business is so small in this country that no satisfactory system of handling it has been worked out. Apples are practically never allowed to ripen fully on the trees. Many early apples, especially from southern orchards, are sent to market before they are full grown and while the seeds are quite white. Sum- mer and early fall apples are always sold considerably on the green side. L,ate keeping varieties do not really ripen, of course, till January or March, as the case may be, but they are ready to pick just about the time the frost begins to thin the foliage visibly on the trees. Certain varieties, Spy in particular, are left hanging late, even after the leaves have mostly fallen and until night frosts are decidedly sharp. Farneuse and apples of that type require to be picked relatively early. When they begin to fall from the trees picking time has come. The poorer specimens naturally fall earliest from trees of all varieties, and by watching 46 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING the windfalls the orchardist can tell better than in any other way when the picking is beginning to be pressing. II. PICKING RECEPTACLES Strawberries are usually picked into the quart boxes in which they are shipped. In case they are to be sorted the quart cups may still be used for picking. Six or eight of these are held in a carrier, and a carrier is given to each picker. Raspberries, black- berries, gooseberries, currants, etc., are commonly handled in much the same way. However, all such berries as are solid enough to bear handling and some pouring may be picked into any convenient basket, and are then transferred to the shipping packages at the sorting table or in the packing shed. Cherries, peaches, and plums are either picked directly into the shipping packages, or are put into convenient baskets and brought to the sorting table. Whether a man adopts the one plan or the other depends largely on the help he has in picking. If the fruit runs fairly even and the pickers are competent to do the grading, the two operations can usually be advantageously com- bined. In case the pickers can not be trusted to grade and pack the fruit, it is evident that the pickers' packages must be delivered at a sorting table, where the fruit is graded and repacked. Apples are always picked clean off the tree as the work goes on, except in case of summer apples, which should be harvested in successive pickings. Some pickers prefer to pick into a half -bushel basket, which should be lined with burlap or sacking to prevent bruising the fruit. Other pickers prefer to use a sack PICKING 47 which is slung over the shoulders. When baskets are used the bails are provided with stout bent iron hooks, something like a letter S, except that the lower curl is closed about the basket handle to keep it from coming off. The upper crook is made large enough to go over an ordinary branch, and this allows the picker to hang his basket securely within his reach, while he works among the branches with both hands. Ropes or straps are usually provided for letting the baskets down from the trees and pulling them up again. Some apple growers pour the fruit from the picking baskets directly upon the sorting table, packing the apples immediately. Others put the fruit in piles or windrows on the ground to be handled later. Still others empty the fruit temporarily into barrels, which are hauled to the packing shed, where the grading and packing are done at convenience. Each man should adopt that method which best suits his circumstances. Aside from personal preference and local convenience, one way is just as good as the other. III. STEMS ON OR OFF Some fruits are to be picked with stems attached, others are taken without the stems. The reasons which make the one method or the other desirable in each case vary considerably. Cherries and plums are picked with the stems for two reasons: first, the re- moval of the stem allows the juice to escape, moisten- ing the package, and allowing decay to begin; and, second, the stems help to pack the fruit safely into the basket or cup. The stems act like so much excelsior or other packing material, preventing the soft fruits 48 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING from squeezing one against the other. Apples are picked with stems on largely for the sake of looks, but partly also because the removal of the stem may give a chance for decay to begin. The following schedule shows which fruits are usually picked with stems on and those which are usually removed from the stem. There are some ex- ceptions to this classification, but they are local and unimportant: Picked with stems on Picked with stems off Strawberry Plum Raspberry Gooseberry Pear Peach Currant Apple " Apricot Grape Quince Blueberry Cherry Persimmon Juneberry IV. CONVENIENCES AND INCONVENIENCES In all the European books on horticulture, and consequently in all the early American works, there are described various fruit pickers. These usually consist of long poles surmounted with some contriv- ance for pinching, twisting, or cutting off the fruit, and with' a receptacle for catching if. Such things are merely curiosities on a practical modern fruit farm. There is no need to describe any of them here. Picking shears are used in gathering grapes. The form most popular in this country is here illustrated. These can be bought of any deal- FIG. 7-P1CKING SHEARS FOR GRAPES ^ ln horticultural AND OTHER FRUITS SUppHeS, and COSt PICKING 49 about 75 cents to $1.00 at retail. Another pair of scissors, somewhat different, and also shown in the illustration, is used for trimming the bunches of grapes when they are packed into the baskets for market. Similar scissors can be advantageously employed in picking currants when they are to be nicely packed for a good market. Occasionally one will find illustrated and described some so-called fruit-picking machines. For the most part these are even less worthy of description than the pole-pickers just referred to. They are usually some kind of a mechanical compromise between shaking the FIG. 8 SHEARS FOR TRIMMING FRUIT fruit off the tree and picking it by hand. The typical fruit-picking machine consists of a considerable spread of canvas stretched on a frame and mounted on a wheelbarrow. The canvas is arranged somewhat in the form of a broad-flaring funnel. The apples, or pears, or plums are shaken onto this canvas and roll toward the center, where there is sometimes a hole through which they pass into a basket. The use of such machines is to be strongly deprecated. The only way to pick fruit is by hand. Certain exceptions should be made to this rule for fruit picked for canning factories and drying houses. Mechanical pickers may 50 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING K1G. 9 A HANDY HOME-MADE ORCHARD WAGON be used to advantage in this work, but for the most part they have not been found very desirable. It may be said in passing that it is still the practice in certain belated neighborhoods to gather fruit by shaking it off the trees and picking it up from the ground. There is no need of arguing against such a way of doing things. As soon as this fruit is taken to the open market the fruit buyer will furnish the most emphatic of arguments against it. Such fruit will not ship, will not keep, and will not sell. It is fit only for immediate home consumption or for sale in remote country markets where there is no business in fruits. In picking tree fruits ladders of some sort are usually desirable or necessary. For trees of moderate size, such as most plums and peaches, a tall, light step-ladder is usually best and most convenient. This should be made with three legs, and not with four, as PICKING 51 step-ladders are usually made. A three-legged ladder will stand almost anywhere it is put, whereas a four- legged ladder will stand firmly, hardly anywhere in the field. For tall trees a light ladder made in the ordinary fashion is better than a step-ladder. This can be leaned against the branches on the outside of the tree. A low wagon with the trucks arranged to turn shortly is very desirable in handling all sorts of fruit in the field. It is valuable in the strawberry field and indispensable in the orchard. The low trucks ad- vertised in agricultural papers are specially suited to this sort of work. A good substitute made from the trucks of an abandoned horse power is shown in Fig. 9. Another way of making up a handy wagon for handling fruit is shown in Fig. 10. Any handy man about the farm can readily arrange something of this sort. I have seen an old-fashioned stone-boat used to great advantage in hauling in apple barrels from the orchard. FIG. 10 'ORCHARD WAGON MADE ON ORDINARY WAGON TRUCKS 52 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING V. MANAGING PICKERS The management of pickers sometimes becomes a serious and complicated problem, particularly in han- dling such fruits as strawberries, cranberries, etc. In neighborhoods where fruit is grown extensively these methods have been pretty well worked out, and in many instances have become matters of custom. There are many schemes in use, but they may all be reduced to three general forms, somewhat as follows : i . The day-book system. In following this method, the poorest one of all, the proprietor, over- seer, or foreman merely keeps a memorandum in his day-book, showing what each picker has done. Bach picker's name is written at the top of the page, and the successive days' pickings are entered below. A record then takes some such simple form as this : SARAH FORBES May 20 15 quarts "21 21 " "23 35 "24 30 " 14 25 40 " " 26 ........ 17 158 quarts Where less than a dozen pickers are employed, where the same pickers return day after day, and where payment is made as often as once a week, this system may be satisfactory. Pickers are always prone to be dissatisfied with the account kept by the fore- man, however, so that some system which throws the responsibility for errors more upon the picker himself, PICKING 53 E. L. DOTY. A A ^ ILION, N. Y. while at the same time protecting the employer*, is generally preferable. 2. The check system. Following this method the foreman issues a check to each picker for the number of quarts, baskets, or other packages picked. The check is exchanged for the baskets, as soon as they are picked, at the moment when they are delivered to the foreman. This check is commonly printed essentially in the form shown in Fig. n, which was engraved from a picker's check used on a New York strawberry farm. The figure shows the number of quarts picked, and the foreman has tickets bearing various numbers, such as are likely to be needed. On pay day these checks are delivered by the picker and redeemed by the employer. 3. The punch-card system. This is probably, all things considered, the best method in general use. FIG. ii PICKER'S CHECK ffl ) || This Ticket represents 100 Quarts when all 1 || figures are punched out. || 2|2|2|2|2|2|2 | 2 | 2 | .2 1 H H D 1 | 1 | 1 I I |-1 I 1 1 1 1 ' 1 * * 1 -1 1 BERRY PICKER'S TALLY TICKE1 r. 189^ Strawberry Hill Mexico N Y I will pay on demand in cash, at the rate of. cents for picking berries in nice order. ROWS ASSIGNED, 2|2|2|2|2|2|2J2| 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 4 | 4 | 4 \ 4 \ 4 4 1 4 4 KIG. 12 DAVIS* PUNCH CARD 54 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Bath picker is provided with a printed punch card, which is usually either written with the picker's name or punched with his number. Along the margins of the card various numbers are printed, and these are punched with a conductor's punch by the foreman as the baskets are delivered. Each picker retains his own punch card all the while, and is solely responsible - 5 S j. | f ';:::: M (S f - K 1 ; ; ; i ; ; i i i - 55 5 G to CO > | 40 | SO | 60 | 70 1 4 1 5 h 6 1 7 1 Strawberry Hill Frait Farm Berry Ticket. I agree to pay at end of season to the picker whose number appears hereoa, subject to, Rules on Back, the amount punched out oh-this card. No Transfer. CEO. A. DAVIS, Pro. | ,24 | 25 | 2B ! 27 | s -4 v: - DKTE. ,00 g : : ', : : : ' '' ' . S ~ 1 : . .... "~ f 8 OS =? ,8 J? S 8 5 1 FIG. 13 ANOTHER FORM OF PUNCH CARD USED BY MR. DAVIS for it. In some fields it is customary to issue a fresh card every morning. In other places the cards and the work are of such a nature that the same card will record the pickings for several days or for a whole week. Without presuming to offer any new scheme, we may point out that none of these systems is perfect. If some device could be arranged whereby the foreman and the picker could quickly secure duplicate records of each parcel of fruit delivered it would come nearer the ideal system. Something like a railway train con- ductor's cash-fare ticket might answer. This would PICKING 55 require to be furnished with three sets of numbers: one to give the picker's number, one for the date, and one for the number of quarts or baskets delivered. This would be somewhat complicated, since it would require three punchings and the removal of the picker's duplicate slip for each delivery of packages. Still this system might be adapted to suit certain circumstances very nicely. It ought to be remarked that frequent pay days t f f t t f t_ f f tfi.f ! f f SIMPSON'S IMPROVED TALLY SYSTEM For Tallying Berries, Hops, Milk, Etc. 6EO. W. SIMPSON, 1 78 E. FIR H ST., OSWEGO, N . Y. Mmjrtgbtod ud fay dopltaMton t -~ r UJ OtlMTBlunirr, I. n Infrin or ulnf MUM witkoot .nlhoritjr, u FIG. 14 SIMPSON'S PUNCH CARD are very desirable, no matter what system of accounting is followed. The opportunities for losing tickets or for making various mistakes are so numerous that every occasion should be taken for preventing such difficulties. With pay day coming as often as once a week mistakes can be more easily discovered and recti- fied. If payment can be made at the end of every day it is still better. The memory of the foreman and of the picker, taken jointly, is worth something then. Apple pickers usually work by the day, and peach and plum pickers often do. In such circumstances 56 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING the foreman merely keeps account of the time. Apples are sometimes picked by the barrel, however, and in that case it is best simply to furnish each picker with a piece of chalk, directing him to mark his number on each barrel picked. When the barrels are hauled into the packing or storage shed the foreman's account can then be made up from the numbers. When apples or pears are picked by the bushel, by the basket, or in any similar way, the record may best be kept by one of the systems described above. In the management of pickers it will be found of the utmost importance to assign each one to a given row or tree, and require him to pick it clean. All sorts of serious difficulties arise if the least neglect of this precaution is allowed. PART THREE Grading and Packing * Lineal measure 200 "^3x7 base and water tables 200 " % x 12 planers 4pieces|gx5 1 5 feet j. Corner boards 4 78X0 15 ) 8 16 2x8 15 2x8 13 [.Sills 56 26 2x9 15^ 2x9 30 ( Floor joists 26 1^x9 19 Collar ties to rafters 100 3x4 14 iwall studs 20 3X4 12 ) 56 2x8 21 Rafters 26 26 2x6 10 1x6 8 > Braces 16 1x4 13 Ribbons 4 2X 12 13 Ridge poles FRUIT STORAGE 127 Responsible lumber dealers in Burlington estimate this bill at $443. 69. This house actually cost $1,500, finished. Mr. Kinney has furnished me with the following records of temperature observations, made during the winter of 1896-7, and showing how well he is able to keep the rooms under control : Date December 28 ... Cellar Temperature Degrees 3C Main Room Temperature Degrees 02 2Q -7C oo j *6 oo 2 ... 16 OC ,, 16 37 A , 27 38 0. tor. > T'rouf, 8'' a' i , 1 ; /ce Trough. 1 \ J 1 \ f >-ff .,< AC ,: - ,l_ sr * ,1 3 I 1 .1 j - I FIG. 59 PLAN OF STORAGE HOUSE FOR MR. ARTHUR H. HILL The proposed plan, shown herewith, calls for a building 50 feet square, and 24 feet high to the eaves, with four stories and a garret. Each story of the FRUIT STORAGE I6 7 storage space proper is made low, only 6^ feet be- tween floor and ceiling. This will accommodate two tiers of barrels on end, and, in case of crowding, another tier on the side. This makes less work in handling than when barrels are piled three tiers high, Storage. > ? /o St>ls, etc J ly tfoom. o Stor-aye FIG. 60 SECTION OF PROPOSED ICE-COOLED STORAGE-HOUSE and there is consequently less rough handling of the fruit. In the center is a shaft 8x8 feet in size, which serves the triple purpose of elevator, ventilator, and support for the floors. This will be open on all four sides, but with doors arranged so as to control venti- lation when necessary. 1 68 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING The upper floor the one opening on the bank will be used as a packing room. The fruit will be re- ceived here, and may be discharged either from here or from the lower story. This room will be used also for icing the pipes in cooling the rooms below. The system of ice cooling proposed is that already described, page 103. Pipes of galvanized iron 8 inches in diameter will extend from the icing trough on the upper floor to the waste trough on the lower floor. These can be filled with the crushed ice and salt mixture when desired. If only a part of the storage space is in demand, the lower room will be cooled by filling the tubes as high as the ceiling of that room. The necessary ice house will be built against the storage house, probably on the edge of the bluff above, and on a level with the floor of the icing room. A lining of rough sheathing.will be used between the stone wall and the cooling pipes, and another lining or curtain of lighter material will be placed inside the range of pipes. Other details of construction have not yet been determined on, but will be sufficiently obvious so that any practical builder can follow the general outlines of this plan and make the necessary adapta- tions under any circumstances which make a similar construction seem desirable. PART SIX Appendix APPENDIX I. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF FRUIT, UNITED STATES The following tables, showing the imports and ex- ports of fruits, are taken directly or indirectly from the reports of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States. Those indirectly secured come by way of a paper prepared by Mr. W. A. Taylor for the United States Department of Agriculture Year Book, 1897, page 305. This important article has not attracted the attention it deserves. It brings out, by means of statistics and text, the interesting fact that home- grown fruits are being rapidly substituted for foreign- grown fruits of many kinds. This condition is further established by the additional statistics given below. Take, for example, the items of raisins and prunes. The importations of these fruits increased steadily and enormously from 1830 up to 1890, but from that time have fallen off quite remarkably. This is due, of course, to the establishment of the raisin grape industry in California and of large prune orchards all along the western coast. In this direct connection there should be noted the other fact that, while importations have been greatly reduced, the United States has actually 171 172 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING opened a considerable export trade in these same fruits, as will be seen from these figures : EXPORTS OF RAISINS AND PRUNES, 1898-1900 YEAR ENDING DECEMBER RAISINS PRUNES Pounds Dollars Pounds Dollars 1898 4,507,084 3,554,920 3,542,875 222,975 204,001 217,502 8,164,987 16,519,024 16,632,803 537,628 1,048,453 1,031,946 1899 1900 The increasing importance of the American prune industry may be better judged by the fact that the output has doubled within the last five years. The California prune crop, which forms the bulk of the output, has, during the last half decade, reached the figures given herewith. PRUNE OUTPUT OF CALIFORNIA Year Pounds Year Pounds 1896 . . . 55,200,000 1898 . . . 90,420,000 1897 . . . 97,780,000 1899 . . . 114,227,000 1900 (estimated) . . . 125,000,000 Such fruits as olives, pineapples, bananas, and dates, not commercially produced in the United States, are imported every year in larger and larger quanti- ties. The whole fruit trade is increasing enormously every year, so that any reduction in importations almost necessarily means a larger increase in domestic production. With these remarks the following tables are sub- mitted. APPENDIX 173 AVERAGE ANNUAI, IMPORTS OF FRUITS INTO THE UNITED STATES BY DECADES, IN POUNDS DECADE ENDING Raisins Currants Plums and Prunes Dates Almonds 1830. 1840 . 1850. 1860 . 1870. 1880. 1890. 1890-97. . . 4,437,939 13,203,732 13,492,060 19,008,255 21,468,783 33,731,861 41,812,016 18,473,610 189,523 489,747 1,334,631 3,176,469 5,866,839 16,491,727 28,189,074 34,505,448 146,929 584,969 398,422 3,833,635 6,333,531 25,108,911 56,928,640 14,823,463 44,426 429,355 362,227 1,553,679 1,718,348 4,059,331 8,884,713 15,193,490 637,866 2,240,451 1,493.692 3,352,759 2,290,157 2,514,072 3,121,444 3,500,835 ANNUAL IMPORTS OF FRUITS INTO THE UNITED STATES FOR TEN YEARS, IN POUNDS YEAR Raisins Currants Plums and Prunes Figs Dates Al- monds 1891 . . 37,174,186 42,849,814 41,012,571 9,063,663 20,091,012 3,390 1892 . . 18.873,690 36,665,728 10,374,874 8,324,861 17,089,367 3,451 1893 . 23,598,985 33,166,364 23,225,821 10,060,092 16,248,515 2,780 1894 . 13,660,498 52,350,083 8,749,349 7,930,316 12.408,409 3,305 1895 . 13,888,095^ 15,936,019 15,311,695 11,559,092 14,716,765 4,178 1896 . 10,202,086 32,351,985 852,944 11,635,493 13,575,254 3,202 1897 . 11,917,756 28,218,176 736,987 8,837,572 12,225,111 4,196 1898 . 5,386,177 34,061,006 613,887 7,992,554 12,346,466 1899 . . 9,651,910 32,244,832 450,591 8,535,967 16,061,726 1900 . . 4,332,040 20,578,032 729,611 9,508,064 20,550,485 EXPORTS OF FRUITS FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR TEN YEARS YEAR APPLES, GREEN CANNED ALL OTHER ALL END- OR I UPE APPLES, DRIED FRUITS PRES'D FRUITS OTHER FRUITS JUNE 30 Barrels Value Pounds Value Value Value Value 1890 . 4.53,506 $1,231,436 20,861,462 $1,038,682 $698,321 $59,401 $1,003,846 1891 . 185.207 476,897 6,973,168 409,605 703,880 93,996 699.798 1892 . 938,743 2,407,956 26,042,063 1,288,102 1,558,820 214,738 1,095,844 1893 . 408,014 1,097,967 7,966,819 482,085 1,137,660 224,381 881,804 1894 . 78,580 242,617 2,846,645 168,054 660,723 211,215 1.016,397 1895 . 818,711 1,954,318 7,085,946 461,214 871,465 47,420 1,522,100 1896 . 360,002 930,289 26,691,963 1,340,507 1,376,281 70,353 1,868,850 1897 . 1,. 503,987 2,371,143 30,775,401 1,340,159 1,686,723 43,276 2,172,199 1898 . 605,890 1,684,717 31,031,254 605,390 1,624,741 82,504 3,562,191 1899 . 380,222 1,210,459 19,305,739 380,222 2,330,715 66,899 2,903,429 1900 . 526,636 1,444,655 34,964,010 2,247,851 3,122,831 62,370 4,598,295 II r* TJC$ O CO O! I-H Tf> *f* o S3 < lOt^t-^W/O^ j c< o5 oi o oo rj< o ill i - 0OO( l^l^QO . 176 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING III. STATE FRUIT-PACKAGE LAWS The writer is unable to say with certainty that the fruit-package laws transcribed below are the only ones on the statute books in the United States and Canada ; but he has carefully looked after all the states likely to have such laws, and these are all that can be found. Even these are mostly moribund. The Missouri apple- barrel law, for instance, is entirely unknown to many of the best horticulturists in that state. Some of whom inquiry was made said there was no fruit-pack- age law in existence in Missouri. In no state in the Union is one of these laws enforced. In fact a study of the laws themselves would give the entirest stranger the feeling that they were not seriously intended. Most of them have a manifestly perfunctory air about them. In most cases no adequate provision is made for their enforcement. In New York, for instance, no one is charged with the enforce- ment of the law. A man who considers himself de- frauded by short packages may bring action under the law, but he must do so at his own expense and risk. It seems to the writer that the practicability of a fruit-package law at least, in the United States may be seriously questioned. There is no denying that anything which would tend to secure greater uniform- ity of packages, or which would tend to decrease fraudulent packing, would be a good thing. But con- siderable machinery would be required to make such a law effective ; and after it was all arranged it would be harder to operate the machinery than to avoid the trouble itself. APPENDIX 177 At any rate, the laws now on the statute books seem to be highly insufficient. The course of future legislation can not be predicted, of course, but it is hardly likely that sufficient discontent will arise under the present organization of the fruit trade to give the force necessary to pass any new law stringent enough to count for much. Following are the laws which have been found un- repealed. Most of them are of comparatively recent date. THE NEW YORK SMAU,-FRUIT PACKAGE LAW The New York small-fruit package law (chap. 509, laws of 1899) is as follows: An Act to define the size of small-fruit packages. Became a law May 3, 1899, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows : SECTION i. Small-fruit packages. The standard of meas- ures for buying and selling strawberries, raspberries, black- berries, currants, gooseberries, and other small fruits, shall be the quart, which shall contain when even full sixty-seven cubic inches; the pint when even full shall contain thirty- three and one-half cubic inches; the half-pint, which, when even full, shall contain sixteen and three-quarter cubic inches. SEC. 2. Marks on baskets. All manufacturers of small- fruit packages, such as quarts, pints, and half-pints, that make or cause to be made such packages that are of less size or capacity than the standard sizes as defined in Section i of this Act, shall mark each such quart, pint, and half-pint with the word "short" on the outside in letters not less than one- half inch in hight. 178 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING SEC. 3. Penalty. Any person in this state who sells or offers to sell fruit packages that are of less than the standard sizes and capacity as denned in Section I, or any person who sells or offers for sale fruit in packages that are of less size or capacity than those denned in Section i, that are not marked with the word " short," as directed in Section 2, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction shall be fined not less than five dollars and not more than twenty-five dol- lars, and shall stand committed to the county jail until such fine and costs are paid. SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect January first, nineteen hundred. NEW YORK APPLE, PEAR, QUINCE, AND POTATO BARREL LAW (Laws of 1899, chap. 317.) An Act to amend the domestic commerce law in relation to the size of apple, pear, quince, and potato barrels. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION i. Section nine of chapter three hundred and seventy-six of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety-six, entitled " An act relating to domestic commerce law, consti- tuting chapter thirty-four of the general laws," is hereby amended to read as follows: SEC. 9. Barrels of apples, quinces, pears, and potatoes. A barrel of pears, quinces, or potatoes shall represent a quantity equal to one hundred quarts of grain or dry measure. A barrel of apples shall be of the following dimensions: head diameter, seventeen and one-eighth inches; length of stave, twenty-eight and one-half inches; bulge, not less than sixty- four inches outside measurement. Every person buying or selling apples, pears, quinces, or potatoes in this state by the barrel shall be understood as referring to the quantity or size of the barrel specified in this section, but when potatoes are APPENDIX 179 sold by weight the quantity constituting a barrel shall be one hundred and seventy-four pounds. No person shall make, or cause to be made, barrels holding less than the quantity herein specified, knowing or having reason to believe that the same are to be used for the sale of apples, quinces, pears, or pota- toes, unless such barrel is plainly marked on the outside thereof with the words "short barrel" in letters of not less than one inch in hight. No person in this state shall use barrels hereafter made for the sale of such articles of a size less than the size specified in this section. Every person violating any provision of this section shall forfeit to the people of the state a sum of five dollars for every barrel put up made or used in violation of such provision. SEC. 2. This act shall take effect immediately. MASSACHUSETTS BERRY-BASKET I,AW Late in the spring of 1901 the Massachusetts legis- lature passed the following law : An Act relative to the size of berry baskets. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : Sections one and two of chapter three hundred and thirty- nine of the acts of the year nineteen hundred are hereby amended to read as follows: SECTION i. Every basket or other receptacle containing one quart or less, used or intended to be used in the sale of strawberries, blackberries, cherries, currants, and goose- berries, shall be of the capacity of one quart, one pint, or one- half pint, Massachusetts standard dry measure. SEC. 2. Whosoever sells or offers for sale any such basket or other receptacle, containing one quart or less, not conforming to said standard to be used in the sale of any of the aforesaid fruit, and whoever sells or offers for sale any of the aforesaid fruit in any such basket or other receptacle, containing one quart or less, not conforming to the said stand- ISO FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING ard, shall be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars nor more than ten dollars for each offense. DELAWARE Section 22 of chapter 216 of the laws of Delaware, relating to the State Board of Agriculture, deals with the subject of fruit packages. The text follows: The said Board of Agriculture shall have power to com- pel all growers of fruit to stamp or mark the baskets, boxes, packages, crates, parcels, or other receptacles used by them for the shipment of any fruit or fruits, with his, her or their name or names, initial or initials, or with some distinguishing device or mark which may be readily and easily read and seen on the same; and said Board may adopt rules and regulations to carry this into effect. If any grower of any fruit or fruits shall neglect or fail, after ten days' notice of said Board to comply with the provisions of this section, he or she or they shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall forfeit and pay a fine of five dollars. From Bulletin No. /, Delaware State Board of Agriculture, April 16, NEW JERSEY PEACH-BASKET An Act for the protection of peach growers in the State of New Jersey, and to prevent deception in the size of peach baskets. Approved March 23, 1892. SECTION I. That the standard size of peach baskets in the State of New Jersey shall be sixteen quarts Winchester half-bushel measure; that the height of the basket shall be twelve and one-quarter inches, and that the width across the top shall be thirteen and one-half inches, and that the inside measurement shall contain one thousand and seventy-five and ten one-hundredths cubic inches, and that such basket shall be marked " Standard, N. J.," upon the staves just below the rim in Roman letters, which shall be burned on or printed thereon with permanent red paint in a straight line, and each APPENDIX l8l of them shall not be less than one inch in length, and not less than one-half inch in width, and that every person who shall manufacture for sale, or who shall offer or expose for sale any basket to be used for shipping or selling peaches not stand- ard, shall distinctly and durably stamp, brand or mark upon such basket upon the stave just below the rim the number of quarts such basket contains. SEC. 2. That every person who shall manufacture, sell, or offer or expose for sale, or have in his or her possession with intent to sell, or to use any peach basket or baskets not stamped, branded or marked as required by the first section of this act to be stamped, branded or marked, shall for every such offense forfeit and pay a fine of not less than twenty- five dollars, and not more than fifty dollars, to be recovered with costs, in any of the courts of this state having cogni- zance thereof, in any action to be prosecuted by any prosecu- ting attorney in the name of the state, and the one-half of such recovery shall be paid to the informer, and the residue shall be applied to the support of the poor in the county where such recovery is had. SEC. 3. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed, and this act shall take effect the first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two. MISSOURI APPLE-BARREL LAW The Missouri apple-barrel law (Mo. R. S. 1899, Section 10,576) is as follows : Whenever apples shall be sold by the barrel, and no special agreement is made as to the size of the barrel by the parties, the size shall be as follows: Length of barrel, twenty- eight and one-half inches (28^), with chines of three-fourths of an inch at the ends; the diameter of the heads shall be seventeen and one-fourth inches (i7/^), and the diameter of the center of the barrel inside shall be twenty and one-half inches (20^). 1 82 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING CANADIAN FRUIT-PACKAGE Chapter 26, sections 4 and 5, of the statutes of 1901, Dominion of Canada, make the following pro- visions : SECTION 4. (i) All apples packed in Canada for export for sale by the barrel in closed barrels shall be packed in good and strong barrels of seasoned wood having dimensions not less than the following, namely: twenty-six inches and one- fourth between the heads, inside measure, and a head diam- eter of seventeen inches, and a middle diameter of eighteen inches and one-half, representing as nearly as possible ninety- six quarts. (2) When apples, pears, or quinces are sold by the barrel, as a measure of capacity, such barrel shall not be of lesser dimensions than those specified in this section. Every person who offers or exposes for sale, or who packs for exportation, apples, pears, or quinces by the barrel, other- wise than in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section, shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty of twenty-five cents for each barrel of apples, pears, or quinces so offered or exposed for sale or packed. SEC. 5. (i) Every box of berries or currants offered for sale and every berry box manufactured and offered for sale in Canada shall be plainly marked on the side of the box, in black letters at least half an inch square, with the word "Short," unless it contains when level-full as nearly exactly as practicable (a) at least four-fifths of a quart, or (b) two-fifths of a quart. (2) Every basket of fruit offered for sale in Canada, unless stamped on the side plainly in black letters at least three- quarters of an inch deep and wide, with the word "Quart" in full, preceded with the minimum number of quarts, omitting fractions, which the baskets will hold when level-full shall APPENDIX 1 83 contain, when level-full one or other of the following quan- tities: () fifteen quarts or more; (b) eleven quarts, and be five and three-quarter inches deep, perpendicularly, inside measurement, as nearly exactly as practicable; (c) six and two-thirds quarts, and be four and five-eighths inches deep, perpendicularly, inside measurement, as nearly exactly as practicable; or (d) two and two-fifths quarts, as nearly exactly as practi- cable. (3) Every person who neglects to comply with any pro- vision of this section, and any person who sells or offers for sale any fruit or berry boxes in contravention of this section, shall be liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of not less than twenty-five cents for each basket or box so sold or offered for sale. (4) This section shall come into effect on the first day of February, one thousand nine hundred and two. CANADIAN FRUIT MARKS ACT OF 1 90 1 Chapter 27, statutes of 1901, assented to May 23, 1901, makes the following provisions: 1. This Act may be cited as The Fruit Marks Act, 1901. 2. This Act shall come into operation on the first day of July, 1901. 3. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires: (a.) The expression "closed package" means a box or barrel of which the contents cannot be seen or inspected when such package is closed; (b.) The expression "fruit" shall not include wild fruit, nor cranberries whether wild or cultivated. 4. Every person who, by himself or through the agency of another person, packs fruit in a closed package, intended for sale, shall cause the package to be marked in a plain and indelible manner, before it is taken from the premises where it is packed, 184 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING (a.) with the initials of the Christian names, and the full surname and address of the packer; (b.) with the name of the variety or varities; and (<:.) with a designation of the grade of the fruit. 5. No person shall sell, or offer, expose, or have in his possession for sale any fruit packed in a closed package and intended for sale unless such package is marked as required by the next preceding section. 6. No person shall sell, or offer, expose, or have in his possession for sale any fruit packed in a closed package, upon which package is marked any designation which represents such fruit as of finest, best or extra good quality, unless such fruit consist ol well-grown specimens of one variety, sound, of nearly uniform size, of good color for the variety, of nor- mal shape and not less than ninety per cent free from scab, worm-holes, bruises and other defects, and properly packed. 7. No person shall sell, or offer, expose, or have in his possession for sale any fruit packed in any package in which the faced or shown surface gives a false representation of the contents of such package; and it shall be considered a false representation when more than fifteen per cent of such fruit is substantially smaller in size than, or inferior in grade to, or different in variety from, the faced or shown surface of such package. 8. Every person who, by himself or through the agency of another person, violates any of the provisions of this Act shall, for each offense, upon summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one dollar and not less than twenty-five cents for each package which is packed, sold, offered, exposed, or had in possession for sale contrary to the provisions of this Act, together with the costs of prosecution; and in default of payment of such fine and costs, shall be liable to imprison- ment, with or without hard labor, for a term not exceeding one month, unless such fine and the costs of enforcing it are sooner paid. 9. Whenever any fruit packed in a closed package is found to be falsely marked, any inspector charged with the enforcement of this Act may efface such false marks and mark APPENDIX 185 the words " falsely marked " in a plain and indelible manner on such package. The Inspector shall give notice by letter or telegram to the packer whose name is marked on the package before he marks the words " falsely marked " on such package. 10. Every person who wilfully alters, effaces, or obliter- ates wholly or partially, or causes to be altered, effaced or obliterated, any inspector's marks on any package which has undergone inspection shall incur a penalty of forty dollars. 11. The person on whose behalf any fruit is packed, sold, offered or had in possession for sale, contrary to the provisions of the foregoing sections of this Act, shall be prima facie liable for the violation of this Act. 12. Any person charged with the enforcement of this Act may enter upon any premises to make any examination of any packages of fruit suspected of being falsely marked in viola- tion of any of the provisions of this Act, whether such pack- ages are on the premises of the owner, or on other premises, or in the possession of a railway or steamship company; and any person who obstructs or refuses to permit the making of any such examination shall, upon summary conviction, be liable to a penalty not exceeding five hundred dollars and not less than twenty-five dollars, together with the costs of prose- cution, and in default of payment of such penalty and costs, shall be liable to imprisonment, with or without hard labor, for a term not exceeding six months, unless the said penalty and costs of enforcing it are sooner paid. 13. In any complaint, information or conviction under this Act, the matter complained of may be declared, and shall be held to have arisen, within the meaning of Part LVIII of The Criminal Code, 1892, at the place where the fruit was packed, sold, offered, exposed or had in possession for sale. 14. No appeal shall lie from any conviction under this Act except to a superior, county, circuit or district court, or the court of the sessions of the peace having jurisdiction where the conviction was had; and such appeal shall be brought, notice of appeal in writing given, recognizance entered into, or deposit made within ten days after the date 1 86 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING of conviction; and such trial shall be heard, tried, adjudi- cated upon and decided, without the intervention of a jury, at such time and place as the court or judge hearing the trial appoints, within thirty days from the date of conviction, un- less the said court or judge extends the time for hearing and decision beyond such thirty days; and in all other respects not provided for in this Act the procedure under part LVIII of The Criminal Code, 1892, shall, so far as applicable, apply. 15. Any pecuniary penalty imposed under this Act shall, when recovered, be payable one-half to the informant or complainant and the other half to His Majesty. 16. The Governor in Council may make such regulations as he considers necessary in order to secure the efficient en- forcement and operation of this Act; and may by such regu- lations impose penalties not exceeding fifty dollars on any person offending against them; and the regulations so made shall be in force from the date of their publication in The Canada Gazette or from such other date as is specified in the proclamation in that behalf; and the violation of any such regulation shall be deemed an offense against this Act and punishable as such. IV. APPLE SHIPPERS' RULES The following important resolutions concerning the apple trade are taken from the reports of the National Apple Shippers' Association. (See Year Book Nat. Ap. Ship. Asso., 1900:5.) Standard barrels. Resolved. That this Association recog- nizes as the standard barrel for apples, a barrel which is of the capacity of a flour barrel, which is 17^ inches in diameter of head, and 28^ inches in length of stave, and bulge not less than 64 inches, outside measurement. (Adopted Aug. i, 1895. Amended Aug. 6, 1897.) APPENDIX 187 Requirements for No. I apples. Resolved, That the standard for size for No. i apples shall not be less than 2^ inches in diameter and shall include such varieties as the Ben Davis, Willow Twig, Baldwin, Greening, and other varieties kindred in size. That the standard for such varieties as Romanite, Russett, Wine Sap, Jonathan, Missouri Pippin, and other varieties kindred in size shall not be less than 2^ inches. And further that No. i apples shall be at time of packing practically free from the action of worms, defacement of surface, or breaking of skin; shall be hand-picked from the tree, a bright and normal color, and shapely form. Requirements for No. 2 apples. No. 2 apples shall be hand- picked from the tree; shall not be smaller than 2^ inches in diameter. The skin must not be broken or the apple bruised. This grade must be faced and packed with as much care as No. I fruit. (This rule determining what a No. 2 apple shall be was made a by-law of this Association Aug. 3, 1900, and appears among the by-laws.) Barrel legislation. Resolved, That the State Vice-Presi- dents be directed to prepare proper resolutions, urging the enactment by their respective State Legislatures of legislation making the legal barrel for apples conform to the package adopted by this Association that is, I7J4 inches head and 28^ inches stave, with bulge not less than 64 inches, outside measurement. (Adopted Aug. 2, 1895. Amended Aug. 6, 1897.) Transportation necessities. Resolved, That this Association strongly urge the necessity and fairness of the adoption of a uniform weight of 150 pounds for a barrel of apples as a basis of rate thereon and directs the new Transportation Committee of this body to immediately take steps to urge the acceptance of such weight on part of the rate-making committees of the railroads. (Adopted Aug. 6, 1897.) Resolved, That the Transportation Committee be directed to secure from the transportation companies a regular bill of lading instead of the "Shippers' Loading and Count" Bill of Lading. (Adopted Aug. 6, 1897.) 1 88 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Resolved, That the Transportation Committee recom- mends that a vigorous protest be made against present methods regarding claims against transportation companies and the demand that a settlement must be made no later than from thirty to sixty days from the filing of a claim for loss or damage accompanied by proper proofs, and that sister organ- izations be requested to assist in the agitation for justice until justice shall be accorded just claimants. (Adopted Aug. 4, 1898.) Protection during growth. The leading agricultural papers of the country are doing a splendid work in directing the attention of fruit growers to the means offered for the detec- tion, location, and correction of fungus and other diseases of apples. It is quite within the province of a deliberative body like ours, composed as it is of representative dealers and exporters from different sections of the country, to express its appreciation of the value of the scientific deductions, the practical application of which is doing so much annually toward saving crops in infected districts from utter anni- hilation. This Association would fail in its duty if it refused to recognize a widespread neglect of the advantages afforded by judicious cultivation and spraying of apple orchards, as recommended by state, county, and district agricultural societies. Fruit growers, especially in the east, must adopt these measures if they expect to retain their hold upon the trade of the country and continue their present position in the apple markets of Europe. In view of these facts and conditions be it therefore Resolved, that the members of this Association desire it to be placed upon record that they will, as far as possible, con- tinue the agitation upon this now most important question of the proper care of fruit during cultivation, and to that end be it further resolved that copies of this recommendation be for- warded to the agricultural press of the country with a request for the endorsement and publication of such part as may seem to them fit and proper. APPENDIX 189 V. THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF COMMISSION MERCHANTS OF THE UNITED STATES Shippers seeking reliable commission men to whom fruit may be consigned may find it convenient to con- sult the following roster of members of the National League of Commission Merchants. The present offi- cers of the League are: D. W. Longfellow, Minneap- olis, President; A. Warren Patch, Boston, Secretary, and C. W. Nokes, Cleveland, Treasurer. The following statement of the objects of the league is made by its officers: " Individuals or isolated communities can accomplish but limited results, therefore an organization of national extent and influence is indispensable. " In this organization we propose to combine good, respon- sible commission merchants of every large commercial center, and with the aid of growers, producers, and shippers, either organized or unorganized, work together for the general wel- fare of the trade. "A large percentage of the food products of the earth is handled on commission. The commission merchant is, and of necessity must always be, an important factor in the com- merce of the world. " Our organization lays its foundation on the personal in- tegrity and financial responsibility of its individual members. " The conditions of membership are exacting, but not ex- clusive. Reputable commission merchants, where ah organi- zation may be legally formed, are invited to join us under our constitution and by-laws. An unworthy, irresponsible com- mission merchant may, by misrepresentation, enter this or- ganization, but when his unfitness or the unworthiness of any member is discovered, expulsion will surely follow. " Financial soundness and honesty for the individual members, combined in a national organization of broad com- 1 90 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING mercial views, must and will command the confidence and respect of the American people. " To promote these ends we invoke aid and sympathy of all commercial and agricultural organizations. "The rapidity and facility of transportation make all markets accessible, all products obtainable; the products of a single farm, dairy or garden may be distributed over and con- sumed in more than half the states in the Union. " Every grower, producer, or shipper may reach the Na- tional League through his commission merchant, and have his views for the general welfare carefully considered. " Farmers' clubs, fruit and vegetable growers' associa- tions, shippers of butter and other dairy products, and all commercial organizations, will find us ready to unite with them in defeating unjust laws, in collecting and disseminating information, in improving business methods, in resisting dis- criminations and exactions, and in demanding and enforcing responsibility and integrity. " We claim no section; we are non-partisan and non-sec- tarian. We guarantee our sympathy and support to every enterprise that may increase the rewards of labor or add to the comfort or happiness of the home. "The following resolutions were adopted at the Second Annual Convention in Cincinnati, January 10, 1894: " ' ist. That the membership of this National League is composed of reputable commission merchants in each city where a Branch League has been established, and that they are all worthy of the confidence of any and all shippers; that while one of the objects for the establishment of this League is to further the interests of its members in an increase of business, yet another and very important object to the shipper is to place within his reach such houses as he will at all times feel safe in shipping to, and at the same time to protect him against the frauds who sail under the head of commission merchants, who, with their smooth tongues, flaming letter heads, and fabulous quotations, induce shipments, for which they never expect to make any returns, or by some other trickery cheat the shipper out of his just returns. APPENDIX IQI " ' 2d. That it is the purpose and intention of this Na- tional League to ferret out these fraudulent houses, to keep a record of them, and to furnish any necessary information regarding such houses to all shippers of produce who may inquire for the same.' " 'For such information inquire of the Secretary of the Branch League in the city in which the party resides of whom you wish a report.' " SECRETARIES OF BRANCH LEAGUES Baltimore Edw. S. Evans, 214 Light Street, Baltimore, Md. Boston H. H. Kendall, 15 F. H. Market, Boston, Mass. Buffalo M. U. Mackey, 40 W. Market Street. Buffalo, N. Y. Chicago Theo. C. H. Wegeforth, 133 S. Water Street, Chicago. Cincinnati H. C. Beekley, 244 W. Sixth Street, Cincin- nati, O. Cleveland C. W. Nokes, 36 Huron Street, Cleveland, O. Columbus C. C. Vail, 114 E. Town Street, Columbus, O. Denver F. H. Leonard, 1528-30 Market Street, Denver, Col. Detroit John D. Wiley, 20 Woodbridge Street, W. Detroit, Mich. Indianapolis B. F. Hitz, 30 S. Delaware Street, Indianapolis. Kansas City Charles G. Haines, 112 W. Fourth Street, Kansas City, Mo. Louisville S. S. Thompson, 210 Jefferson Market, Louis- ville, Ky. Memphis L. Lawhorn, 342 Front Street, Memphis, Tenn. Milwaukee J. H. Wussow, 269 Broadway, Milwaukee, Wis. Minneapolis D. W. Longfellow, 208 N. Sixth Street, Min- neapolis, Minn. Mobile Philip Muscat, 64 S. Commerce Street, Mobile, Ala. New Orleans George W. Davidson, Poydras Street, New Orleans, La. New York E. A. Brown, 306 Washington Street, New York. Omaha W. H. Hazzard, 508 S. Tenth Street, Omaha, Neb. Philadelphia S. S. Darmon, 120 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, Pa. IQ2 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Pittsburg Charles A. Muehlbronner, 623 Liberty Street, Pittsburg, Pa. Richmond R. M. Mclntire, 1320 E. Gary Street, Richmond, Va. St. Louis G. G. Fairham, 918 N. Third Street, St. Louis, Mo. St. Paul J. E. Mulrooney, 79 E. Third Street, St. Paul, Minn. ROSTER OF MEMBERS BALTIMORE, MD. C. H. Anderson & Co., 123 S. Calvert Street, Fruits and General Produce. Blankfard & Meginniss, 135 W. Pratt Street, Fruits and General Produce. Thomas Bond & Son, 216 Light Street, Fruits and Vegetables. I. Cooke & Sons, 7 W. Pratt Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, and Dried Fruits. Dix & Wilkins, 9 E. Lombard Street, Florida, California, and Foreign Products. T. H. Evans & Co., 214 Light Street Wharf, Fruits and General Produce. Henderson, Linthicum & Co., 3 E. Camden Street, Fruits and General Produce. T. H. Kepner & Co., 14 E. Camden Street, Fruits and General Produce. G. M. Lamb & Bro., 301 Exchange Place, Butter, Eggs, and Poultry. Edward L. Palmer & Co., u E. Lombard Street, Fruits, Canned Goods, Groceries. C. Shipley & Co., 107 S. Calvert Street, Fruits and General Produce. William A. Schutze & Co., 118-120 S. Charles Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, Dried Fruits. John Staum & Sons, 210 Light Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Stevens Bros., 226 Charles Street, Fruits and Produce. The Snyder & Blankfard Co., 226 Light Street, Vegetables and Fruits. C. P. Tatem & Co., 121 Light Street, Fruits and General Produce. APPENDIX 193 BOSTON, MASS. o., 19 and 20 N. Mi W. H. Blodget Co., 50 Clinton Street, Bennett, Rand & Co., 19 and 20 N. Market Street, Fruits and Produce. Fruits and Produce. F. H. Bowles & Co., 113-115 S. Market Street, Butter, Cheese, and Eggs. Chapin Brothers, 97 S. Market Street, Fruit, Produce, and Southern Produce. Conant & Bean, 15 N. Side Faneuil Hall Market, Fruits and General Produce. Curtis & Co., 104-106 Faneuil Hall Market, Fruits and General Produce. T. E. Holway & Co., 15 N. Market Street, Fruits and General Produce. Amos Keyes & Co., 22 Blackstone Street, Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Poultry, Game. A. & O. W. Mead & Co., 35 N. Market Street, Fruits, Produce, Butter, Eggs, Poultry. J. D. Mead & Co., cor. Clinton and Fulton Streets, Fruits and General Produce. Patch & Roberts, 17 N. Market Street, Fruits and General Produce. Porter Brothers Company, 99-101 S. Market Street, California Fruits and Vegetables. Snow & Co., 48 Clinton Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Winn, Ricker & Co., 93 Faneuil Hall Market, Foreign and Domestic Fruits and Produce. York & Whitney, i N. Market Street, Fruits and Vegetables. BUFFALO, N. Y. Bean, Coward & Chaddock, Elk Street Market, Fruits and Produce. F. Brennisen & Son, 156-158 Michigan Street, Fruits and General Produce. J. H. Gail, 94 W. Market and 153 Michigan Streets, Fruits and General Produce. George Hornung, 54 W. Market and 115 Michigan Streets, Fruits and Produce. 194 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Mackey & Williams, 62 W. Market and 125 Michigan Streets. Fruits and Produce. Paine & Williams, 82-84 W. Market Street, Fruits and General Produce. Potter & Williams, 144 and 148 Michigan Street, Fruits and General Produce. Rogers Commission House, 149 Michigan Street, Fruits and General Produce. Isaac G. Vishion, 66 W. Market Street, Butter, Eggs, and General Produce. J. J. White, 68 W. Market and 179-181 Perry Streets, Fruits and General Produce. CHICAGO, ILL. M. Baker & Co., 93 S. Water Street, Fruits and General Produce. A. H. Barber, 229 S. Water Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, and Produce. Barnett Bros., 159 S. Water Street, Fruits and General Produce. R. A. Burnett & Co., 163 S. Water Street, Honey, Fruit, and Produce. Cuneo Brothers, 113 S. Water Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Nuts, etc. Frost Bros., 122 S. Water Street, Fruits and General Produce. Garibaldi & Cuneo, 81-83 S. Water Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Nuts, etc. M. George & Co., 95 S. Water Street, Fruits and General Produce. Moses Gray & Co., 249-51 S. Water Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, Fruits, Produce. F. Heinze & Co., 171 S. Water Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Lepman & Heggie, 198-110 S. Water Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, Game. C. F. Love & Co., 89 S. Water Street. Fruits and General Produce. George Middendorf & Co., 135-137 S. Water Street. Fruits, Produce, Butter, Eggs, Cheese. A. L. McClay & Co., 141 S. Water Street, Fruits and Vegetables. APPENDIX 195 F. E. Nellis & Co., 153-155 S. Water Street, Fruits and General Produce. F. Newhall & Sons, 131 S. Water Street, Fruits, Apples, Cranberries, etc. Mark Owen & Co., 115 S. Water Street, General Commission Merchants. Porter Bros. Co., 97 S. Water Street, California, Domestic, and Foreign Fruits. J. C. & C. R. Scales, 114 S. Water Street, Fruits and Produce. P. C. Sears, 121 S. Water Street, Fruits and General Produce. Smith-Cordes Co., 139 S. Water Street, Vegetables, Fruits, Produce. H. P. Stanley Co., 75 S. Water Street, Apples, Cranberries, Oranges, Lemons. G. M. H. Wagner & Sons, 165 S. Water Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Wayne & Low, 185 S. Water Street, Fruits and Produce. C. H. Weaver & Co., 129 S. Water Street, Vegetables, Fruits, Produce. Theo. C. H. Wegeforth & Co., 133 S. Water Street. Fruits and General Produce. J. H. White & Co., 104-106 S. Water Street, Eggs, Butter, Poultry, Veal, Game. CINCINNATI, O. F. Ankenbauer & Sons, 118-118^ E. Front Street, Fruits and Produce. Armacost, Riley & Co., in E. Front Street, Fruits and General Produce. H. C. Beekley & Co., 244 W. Sixth Street, Fruits and Produce. I. J. Cannon & Co., no E. Front Street, Fruits and Vegetables. John Curren & Co., 29 Walnut Street, Fruits and Produce. C. M. Davidson & Co., 112 E. Front Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. F. Delsignore & Co., 114-116 E. Front Street, Foreign and California Fruits. 196 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING F. Devoto & Bro., 108 E. Front Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Berries. M. Fugazzi & Co., 132-134 W. Sixth Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Funck Brothers, 228-230 W. Sixth Street, Southern Fruits and Vegetables. Glas, Bloom & Co., 115-117 E. Front Street, Green and Dried Fruits, Produce. J. B. Hammer & Co., 125 E. Front Street, Fruits and General Produce. D. Hoppe & Co., 31 Walnut Street, Eggs, Butter, Poultry, Game, Fruits. J. Leverone & Co., 100-102 E. Front Street, Fruits and Vegetables. G. E. Markley & Co., 212-214 W. Sixth Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Vegetables. F. J. Nobel, 208 W. Sixth Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Hot-house Products. Pieper & Berghegger, 138 W. Court Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Butter, Eggs. Henry Ransick & Sons, 226 W. Sixth Street, Fruits and Produce. P. J. Reitz & Co., 121 E. Front Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Smith, Reiley & Co., 204 W. Sixth Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Telker & Dunker, 118 E. Court Street, Fruits, Produce, Butter, Eggs, Poultry. Weil, Brockman & Co., 109 E. Front Street, Fruits and Vegetables. S. & M. Weil & Co., 106 E. Front Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Berries, Melons. CLEVELAND, O. W. A. Banks Co., 84-86 Broadway, Fruits and Produce. Corso Brothers, 115 Broadway, Wholesale Fruits. A. R. Duncan, Jr., 110-121 Sheriff Street, Butter, Cheese, Eggs, Poultry, Produce. Haas Brothers, 76-78 Broadway, Fruits and General Produce. APPENDIX 197 Hayes, Blair & Co., 120 Broadway, Tropical and Domestic Fruits, Produce. Kurd & Ricksecker, 9 Huron Street, Fruits and Produce. The Kelley Co., 150-152 Sheriff Street, Fruit, Produce, and Seeds. D. Martin & Co., 84-86 Broadway, Fruits and Produce. Myers, Weil & Deutch, 10-12 Huron Street, General Fruit and Produce Commission Merchants. The C. U. Nokes Co., 36-38 Huron Street, Fruits and General Produce. Strauss & Joseph, 91 Broadway, Wholesale Produce Commission. George Willard, 270 Pearl Street, Wholesale Commission Merchant. COLUMBUS, O. Henry Becker, 121 S. Fourth Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Butter, Eggs. William M. Fisher & Sons, 120-124 E. Town Street, Fruits and Produce. Evans & Turner, Town Street, cor. Fourth, Fruits and Produce. Pletsch & Sutton, Town Street, cor. Fourth, Fruits and Vegetables. William Larimore, 129 S. Fourth Street, Fruits and Produce. Sutton Brothers, 113-115 S. Fourth Street. Fruits and Produce. Henry Turkopp & Co., Town and Third Steets, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. J. P. Vail & Sons, 114 E. Town Street, Fruits and Produce, Butter and Eggs. DENVER, COL. The Donaldson & Howard Com. Co., 1548-1550 Market Street, Fruits and Produce. Humphreys Commission Co., 1520-1522 Market Street, Fruits and Produce. 198 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING F. H. Leonard & Co., 1528-1530 Market Street, Butter, Cheese, and Eggs. The Liebhardt Commission Co., 1624-1630 Market Street, Fruits and Produce. Pinkett Brothers, 1645 Market Street, Butter, Eggs, and Poultry. DETROIT, MICH. Lichtenberg & Sons, 19-25 W. Woodbridge Street, Fruits, Produce, Beans, etc. Walker Egg and Produce Co., 54-56 Woodbridge Street, Fruits and Produce. Edward Read, 26 W. Woodbridge Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Beans, etc. H. F. Rose & Co., 24 W. Woodbridge Street, Fruits and Produce. Charles W. Rudd, 31 W. Woodbridge Street, Fruits and Produce. Alfred Rush & Sons, 45-49 Woodward Avenue, Fruits and Produce. D. O. Wiley & Co., 20 Woodbridge Street, Fruits, Produce, Beans, etc. INDIANAPOLIS, IND. J. H. Crall & Co., 122 S. Delaware Street, Fruits and Vegetables. George Hitz & Co., 30-32 and 68-70 S. Delaware Street, Fruits and Produce. James L. Keach, 112 S. Delaware Street, Fruits and Produce. John W. Neumann & Co., 118-120 S. Delaware Street, Fruits and Produce. E. F. Shideler & Co., 43-45 S. Delaware Street, Fruits and General Produce. Syerup & Co., 22-24 S. Delaware Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Vegetables. George B. Walton & Co., 36 S. Delaware Street, Fruits and General Produce. The D. A. Williams Produce and Commission Co., 131 E. Maryland Street. APPENDIX 199 KANSAS CITY, MO. A. W. Bear Commission Co., 119 E. Fourth Street, Butter, Eggs, and Poultry. T. C. Bottom & Co., 540 Walnut Street, Fruit and Vegetables. C. C. demons & Co., 204 Temple Block, Wholesale Fruits and Produce. O. C. Evans & Co., 302 Delaware Street, Apples, Potatoes, Onions, and Cabbage. C. M. Feiring & Co., 409 Walnut Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, and Cheese. Ginocchio-Jones Fruit Co., 519-521 Walnut Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. A. S. Haines & Son, 112 W. Fourth Street, Fruits, Vegetables, and Produce. H. Kesting, 411 Walnut Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits and Nuts. Papendick Produce Co., 310 Grand Avenue, Eggs, Butter, and Poultry. P. V. Rocco, Bro. & Co., 515-517 Walnut Street, Fruits, Nuts, etc. D. E. Smeltzer & Co., 520 Walnut Street, Small Fruits, Celery, and Vegetables. LOUISVILLE, KY. John T. Allen & Co., 108-110 W. Jefferson Street, Fruits and Vegetables. E. H. Bowen & Co., 119-123 Washington Street, Apples, Potatoes, Onions, Beans. Jos. Denunzio Fruit Co., 316 and 322 W. Jefferson Street, Fruits and Nuts. A. M. Emler, 241 Jefferson Market, Potatoes, Onions, Apples, and Cabbage. Charles H. Kahlert, 619 W. Market Street, Fruits, Produce, and Vegetables. Kohlhepp & lula, 204 E. Jefferson Street, Fruits and General Produce. Mayer, Mitchell & Co., 215 E. Jefferson Street, Fruits, Vegetables, etc. John Schaefer & Sons, 331 E. Market Street, Potatoes, Onions, Apples, Cabbage, etc. 200 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Schwarz Brothers, 941 to 945 E. Market Street, Potatoes, Onions and Onion Sets. D. B. Sperry, 214-216 Second Street, Apples, Potatoes, Beans, Onions, etc. Thompson & Co., 210-212 Jefferson Market, Fruits, Vegetables, Melons, etc. MEMPHIS, TENN. D. Canale & Co., 329 Main Street, Fruits and Produce. M. E. Carter & Co., Memphis, Tenn., Fruits and Produce. T. C. Guinee & Co., Front Street, Fruits and Produce. L. Lawhorn & Co., 342 Front Street, Fruits, Produce, and Potatoes. Seessel & Ashner, 336 Front Street, Fruits and Produce. MILWAUKEE, WIS. E. R. Godfrey & Sons Co., 257-259 Broadway, Fruits and Produce. Nichols, Janssen & Klein, 277 Broadway, Fruits and Vegetables. Pastorino & Schiappacasse, 287 Broadway, Fruits and Nuts. A. J. W. Pierce Co., 305 Broadway, Fruits and Vegetables. J. Seefeld & Son, 283-285 Broadway, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. R. Stafford Co., 265 Broadway, Fruits, Produce, and Grocers' Specialties. Charles A. Schmidt & Co., 261-263 Broadway, Fruits and Produce. J. H. Wussow & Co., 269 Broadway, Fruits and Produce. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. G. L. Bradley & Co., 21 and 22 Central Market, Butter, Eggs, Cheese, and Beans. Connery Fruit Company, 601 to 609 Second Avenue, N., Fruits, Nuts, Figs, Dates. Gamble-Robinson Commission Company, 224-226 Sixth Street, N., Fruits and Produce. APPENDIX 2O1 Grinnell, Collins & Co., 212-214 Sixth Street, N., Fruits and Produce. Hillman Bros., 204-206 Sixth Street, N., Fruits, Vegetables, Dairy Products. Longfellow Bros. & Co., 208 Sixth Street, N., Fruits, Foreign and Domestic. Porter Brothers Co., 228-230 Sixth Street, N., Foreign and Domestic Fruits. E. P. Stacy & Sons, 200-202 Sixth Street, N., Foreign and Domestic Fruits. MOBILE, ALA. Mertz, Ibach & Co., 4 N. Commerce Street, Fruit, Grain, Flour, Produce. Muscat & Lott, 64 S. Commerce Street, Fruit, Produce, Poultry, Eggs. Roh & Partridge, 58 N. Commerce Street, . Fruit and Produce. Bernard Antony & Co., 451 S. Peters Street, Fruits and Produce. NEW ORLEANS, LA. & Co., 451 S. Peters S Joseph A. Ball, 403-405 S. Peters Street, Fruits and Produce. Barbot & Stork, 217 Poydras, cor. Fulton Street, Fruits and Produce. Louis Darring, 319 Poydras Street, Fruits, Produce, and Vegetables. George W. Davidson & Co., 45-47 Poydras Street, Fruits and Produce. Stephen D'Amico, Poydras cor. Fulton Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruit. H. J. Laux & Co., 2ii Poydras Street, Brokers and Commission Merchants. Philip Nagele, 49 Poydras Street, Fruits and Produce. Noble & Saulter, 407-409 S. Peters Street, Fruits and Produce. S. Oteri, 403 S. Front Street, Wholesale Fruit and Produce. Jos. Rittiner & Co., 321-323 Poydras Street, Fruits and Produce, 2O2 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING Charles Roth, 201 Poydras Street, Fruits and Produce. Seessel, Ashner & Sugarman, 529-533 Poydras Street, Fruits and Produce. Segari & Meyer, 405 S. Peters Street, Fruits and Produce. A. Spano & Co., 207 Poydras Street, Fruits and Vegetables. NEW YORK J. H. Bahrenburg, Bro. & Co., 105 Murray Street, Fruits and Produce. Bennett & Hall, 161 West Street, Fruits and Produce. E. A. Brown, 306 Washington Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Poultry. Game, Eggs. R. W. Dixon & Son, 266 Washington Street, Fruits, Produce, Poultry, Game. S. B. Downes & Co., 203 Duane Street, Fruits and Produce, Dressed Poultry. Henry Elwell & Co., 310 Washington Street, Berries, Peaches, Produce. Charles Forster, 44 Harrison Street, Fruits and Vegetables. S. H. & E. H. Frost, 319 Washington, cor. Jay Street, Fruits and Vegetables. G. Furman & Co., West Washington Market, Fruits and Produce. Furman & Page, 112 Warren Street, Fruits, Vegetables, and Produce. William Gamble & Co., 185 Reade Street, Fruits and Vegetables, Butter, Eggs. J. H. Killough & Co., 157 and 158 West Street, Fruits and Produce. Austin Kimball & Co., 78 Park Place, Fruits and Vegetables. E. P. Loomis & Co., 95 Barclay Street, Fruits and Produce. McCormick, Hubbs & Co., 297 Washington Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. John Nix & Co., 281 Washington Street, Fruits and Produce. APPENDIX 2O3 Phillips & Sons, 108 Murray, near Washington Street, Fruits, Produce, Poultry, Calves. P. Ruhlman & Co., 261 Washington Street, Foreign and Domestic Green Fruits. Schott & Franke, 280 Washington Street, Fruits and Vegetables. A. F. Young & Co., Duane, cor. Washington Street, Vegetables and Fruits. OMAHA, NEB. O. W. Butts, 801 to 8n Jones Street, California, Florida, and Tropical Fruits. G. W. Icken & Co., 1207 Howard Street, Fruits, Game and Produce. Perry, Bauer & Ennis, 1213 Howard Street, Butter, Eggs, Poultry, and Game. W. E. Riddell, 413 S. Eleventh Street, Butter, Eggs, and Poultry. H. G. Streight & Co., 1017 Howard Street, Fruits and Vegetables. PHILADELPHIA, PA. Barker & Co., 321-323 N. Front Street, Fruits and Produce. Brown & McMahon, 334 N. Front Street, Fruits and Vegetables. G. W. Butterworth, N. E. cor. Second and Dock Streets, Fruits and Vegetables. S. S. Darmon, 120 Spruce Street, Fruits, Produce, and Vegetables. J. D. Hendrickson, 302 N. Front Street, Apples, Potatoes, and Other Produce. C. G. Justice, 123 Dock Street, Fruits and Vegetables. W. H. Michael & Son, 114 Dock Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Roberts & Andrews, 129-131 Callowhill Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Edward Roberts, 226-228 N. Delaware Avenue, Fruits and Vegetables. R. A. Shetzline & Sons, i Vine Street, Fruits and Vegetables. William Smith & Co., 336 N. Front Street, Fruits, Vegetables, and Poultry. 204 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING J. W. Thorn & Co., 325 N. Water Street, Apples, Potatoes, and Onions. William Weinert & Co., S. W. cor. Front and Vine Streets, Fruits and Produce. J. P. Wilson, 116 Dock Street, Fruits, Vegetables, Poultry, Eggs. E. S. Woodward, 122 Dock Street, Fruits and Vegetables. PITTSBURGH, PA. Ash & Baldwin, 937-939 Liberty Avenue, General Produce. Crutchfield & Woolfolk, 613 Liberty Street, Fruits and Produce. Dale & Cannon, 640 Grant Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Dennis Hayes, 646 Grant Street, Vegetables, Berries, etc. Iron City Produce Co., 623 Liberty Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. H. J. McCracken & Co., 644 Grant Street, General Produce. W. E. Osborne Co., 635 Liberty Street, Fruits and Produce. Seward & Kurts, 640 Grant Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. Albert M. Travis, 645 Liberty Avenue, Fruit and Produce Commission Merchant. John Wallace, 631 Liberty Street, Fruits and Vegetables, Eggs, Poultry. RICHMOND, VA. William Jenkins & Sons, 1311 E. Gary Street, Fruits and Vegetables. J. D. Mclntire & Co., 1320 Gary Street, Fruits and Vegetables. F. S. Padgett & Co., 1303 E. Gary Street, Butter, Eggs, and Poultry. John T. Powers, E. Gary Street, Fruits and Vegetables. W. F. Seymour, 1317 E. Gary Street, Butter, Fruit, and Vegetables. APPENDIX 205 ST. LOUIS, MO. F. W. Brockman Commission Co., 805-809 N. Third Street, Eggs, Poultry, Butter. George G. Fairham & Bro., 918-920 N. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. Gerber Fruit Co., 910-912 N. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. Gunn Fruit Co., 938-940 N. Third Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. Haueisen Bros., 1017-1019 N. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. P. M. Kiely & Co., 914 N. Third Street, Fruits and Vegetables. Conrad Schopp & Co., Northwest cor. Franklin Ave., Fruits and Vegetables. George P. Schopp & Co., 721-723 N. Third Street, Fruits, Produce, and Vegetables. Shaw & Richmond, 829-831 W. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. Trescher & Miller, 922 N. Third Street, Game, Poultry, Eggs, Fruits, and Vegetables. ST. PAUL, MINN. R. E. Cobb, 31-33 E. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. Dore & Redpath, 70-72 E. Third Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Produce. R. A. Durkee, 132 E. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. C. C. Emerson & Co., 26 E. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. J. W. Fillebrown, 114 E. Third Street, Fruits and Vegetables. John B. Hoxsie, 103 E. Third Street, Fruits and Produce. J. E. Mulrooney & Co., 79 E. Third Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. Minnesota Butter & Cheese Co., 61-63 E. Third Street, Butter and Cheese. B. Presley & Co., E. Third Street, Foreign and Domestic Fruits. 2O6 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING VI. COMMISSION CHARGES The regular rate of commission for making retail sales of fruit, even when these fruits arrive in carload lots, is ten per cent. Large shippers, however, by making special agreement with commission houses, often get better rates. In the subjoined table, taken from the American Agriculturist Year Book, 1898, p. 482, the commission charges are given as actually made at various points, but they apply as a rule to relatively small lots. ACTUAI, COMMISSIONS CHARGED FOR HANDLING | 1 1 .10 3 | 1 g 1 1 1 ll 1 1 ^ -H N IN 0* i-; 888 \ Is S S 1 uopuof uojsog APPENDIX 217 EXPORTS DRIED APPLES FROM UNITED STATES YEAR ENDED JUNE 30 Pounds Total value Average value 1897 . . 30,883,921 $1,356,578 4.39c. 1896 26,691,963 1,340,507 5 02 1895 7,085,946 461,214 6.50 1894 . 2,846,645 168,054 5.90 1893 7,996,819 482,085 6.02 1892 1891 26,042,063 6 973,168 1,288,102 409,605 4.57 5.87 1890 - 1889 20,861,462 22,102 579 1,038,682 1,201,070 4.98 5.43 1888 11,803,161 812,682 7.73 1887 8,130,396 413,363 5.08 1886 10 473 183 548434 5.23 1885 18,416,573 1,062,859 5.77 IX. THE CRANBERRY CROP The following facts and figures concerning the cran- berry crop are taken from the American Agricul- turist Year Book, 1898 : 513. " Cranberries are grown extensively in but two states, although a few others devote some attention to the crop prac- tically and experimentally. Probably nine-tenths of the cran- berries found in the markets are produced in New Jersey and e-astern Massachusetts, notably Cape Cod. Wisconsin was quite a producer some time ago, but in recent years the crops have been small, as the bogs were greatly damaged or destroyed by fires. A few cranberries are grown in Con- necticut, Maine, New York, and Michigan, and portions of the Pacific northwest have for several years been experimenting with this crop. Canada produces some cranberries, and would market a good many more were conditions favorable. The cranberry thrives best on a natural black peat or muck bottom, where plenty of sand is available, and a requisite is a liberal supply of running water. *' The establishment of a cranberry bog requires a large 21 8 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING expenditure of labor and money, and even then the business is hazardous unless thoroughly understood and cared for. The question of drainage is a highly important one. Cran- berry vines are flooded in the fall, beginning in October, and this is continued as late as May, when the water is drawn off. This furnishes protection from frosts, and in some degree from insect pests. Blossoms appear in June, and with an ample supply of moisture the fruit ripens in September and October. The cranberry frequently suffers both in fruit and vine from the ravages of insects, and the crop is also subject to damage through fungus diseases and drought. Upon being harvested the fruit is carefully cleaned, screened, and assorted, due attention being given to the process of ripening or coloring previous to placing in barrels and crates. Cold storage for keeping cranberries during early autumn is not generally favored; successful growers prefer to store the fruit in a cool, dry bog house or cellar, disposing of it before cold weather sets in. In the states where mostly grown, law governs the size of package. In Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Wisconsin the crate must hold one bushel, or thirty-two quarts dry measure. New Jersey law provides that the standard crate shall be 7*4 x 12 x 22 inches, capacity 1980 cubic inches, with the barrel three times a crate, or containing ninety-six -quarts. The Massachusetts barrel is one hundred quarts; efforts were made in a recent legislature to reduce this to ninety-six quarts. " The cranberry crop is practically all consumed at home. Commendable efforts were made a few years ago, mostly by New Jersey growers, to build up an export trade, but nothing of consequence has ever been accomplished. A special agent spent several months in England teaching best methods of cooking and serving the fruit, and creating a favorable impression, yet cranberries are still regarded in the light of a novelty abroad, an occasional season showing perhaps five thousand bushels exported from this country. Under the Dingley law an ad valorem duty of 25 per cent has been placed upon foreign cranberries, which will serve to shut out possible shipments from Canada. APPENDIX 219 " Comparatively few sizable bogs have come into bearing the last year or two, crop and market conditions not favorable to any rapid extension, although enough new territory is being developed to probably more than offset loss in other direc- tions. The west, notably Wisconsin and Michigan, are show- ing renewed interest in cranberry growing, yet they furnish only a small percentage of total supply. The Wisconsin cran- berry section is confined to the neighborhood of Greenlake and Wood counties, and eastward to Green Bay and Lake Michigan. The heavy counties in Massachusetts are Plym- outh and Barnstable, with considerable attention given the industry in Middlesex, Norfolk, and Bristol counties. Rhode Island and Connecticut raise a few cranberries, and there is a small acreage across the Sound in Long Island. The Massa- chusetts state census for 1895, issued at the close of 1897, points to a remarkable increase in the production of cran- berries in Plymouth County, placing the yield at 104,192 barrels against only 14,308 ten years earlier, in 1885. The Massachusetts crop of 1895 is reported at 169,583 barrels, with a value of $1,038,712. The leading counties of New Jersey are Burlington, Atlantic, Ocean, Monmouth, and Camden, although a number of others turn off a good many berries in the aggregate. " An average crop of cranberries is about 600,000 bushels, more than half of this being found in New England, and most of the remainder in New Jersey. The crop of 1897 was short and one of the smallest in years, approximating 425,000 bushels against 560,000 in 1896 and 640,000 bushels in 1895. The weather in the spring of 1897 was unfavorable, the crop developed poorly, and was eventually damaged by blight, scald, and insects. Prices one year with another are governed to some extent by the supply of other fruit, notably apples. A short crop of the latter in 1897 stimulated the demand for cranberries; the enormous apple yield of 1896, with attendant phenomenally low prices, hurt the sale of the acid fruit that year. Extended missionary work is still necessary before American consumers will regard cranberries as a staple article of food rather than a luxury." 220 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING CRANBERRY CROPS AND MARKETS BY YEARS BOSTON PRICE PER PH CKUr* IJN l.l , 11 J-,1., BUSHEL 9 New England New Jersey West Total Oct. Jan. May 1897 256,000 120,000 50,000 415,000 $2.00 $2.50 1896 380,000 130,000 50,000 560,000 1.75 1.35 $1.00 1895 420,000 210,000 10,000 640,000 2.50 2.00 2.50 *1894 185,000 200,000 25,000 410,000 2.50 3.00 075 1893 575,000 325,000 100,000 1,000,000 1.50 2.50 3.00 1892 375,000 160,000 65,002 600,000 1.50 2.25 3.00 1891 480,000 250,000 30,000 760,000 2.00 2.25 2.00 1890 375,000 200,000 225,000 800,000 2.25 3.00 3.50 1889 350,000 200,000 70,000 620,000 2.00 3.00 5.00 1888 260,000 225,000 100,000 585,000 2.00 225 1.00 1887 306,000 164,000 141,000 611,000 2.00 3.00 300 1886 275,000 234,000 31,000 540,000 1.50 2.75 4.00 1885 280,879 198.125 264,432 743,436 1.70 1.40 0.75 1884 130,583 124,648 24,783 280,014 3.00 4.75 2.75 1883 141,964 118,524 135,507 395,995 3.00 3.75 5.50 1882 193,664 78,507 50,000 322,171 3.00 4.50 3.50 1881 160,825 157,014 143,186 461,025 2.00 4.00 3.00 1880 250,500 128,700 113,430 492,630 2.00 2.00 1.00 * Figures for 1894 and earlier years from annual reports American Cranberry Growers' Association. X. HANDLING SOUTHERN GRAPES Prof. F. S. Earle makes the following remarks on the question of picking and packing grapes at the south (Alabama Experiment Station Bulletin 1 10 : 75, December, 1900). " Southern grown grapes are more perishable than the same kind grown at the north, because they ripen during the heat of midsummer. For this reason marketing must be expedited in all possible ways. Only a few hours can be allowed for wilting. Those picked in the morning should be packed in the afternoon, and those picked in the afternoon packed early the following morning, and when packed they should be rushed into refrigerator cars as rapidly as possible. Prices for APPENDIX 221 southern grapes are too low at present to justify express ship- ments, and the business can only be permanently successful at those points where enough are grown to load refrigerator cars. "Grapes are best gathered in flat wooden trays or boxes. Twenty by thirty inches by six inches deep is a convenient size. The bunches are cut from the vines with clippers made for the purpose or with a sharp knife, and are placed carefully, two layers deep, in these boxes. When full they may be hauld to the packing house on a spring wagon. The two lay- ers of clusters will not fill them quite full, so they may be safely piled one on- top of another in hauling. At the packing house they should be stacked up in an open, well-ventilated space, and should be crossed in piling so that the ends of each box are freely exposed to the air. In a few hours the stems will have wilted a little so that they will settle together limply. They are now ready for packing. The .Climax basket is more used than any other package for grapes, and, everything con- sidered, it is probably the best. It is an oblong basket with a board bottom, solid veneer sides, a solid veneer cover, and a wooden hoop handle. The usual sizes hold about five and eight pounds." INDEX PAGE PAGE Accounts sales 10 Culls, use of ... 63 Advertising 24 Currants, picking ........ 43, 46 Allen, Mrs., storage house . ... 144 Daybook for pickers 52 Alwood, W. B., storage house . . 131 Delaware fruit-package law . . . 180 American fruit package 73 Delaware peach basket 81 Apple barrel 74 Distrust among fruit shippers . . 20 Apple crop and market 212 Drying fruit 32 Apples in boxes 83 "Dugouts" for storage 121 Apples, packing 67 Exports of apples 216 Apples, picking 45, 46 Exports of apples, Canadian . . . 175 Apple shippers' rules 187 Exports of dried apples 217 Apples stored in pits 120 Exports of fruit, U. S 171 Apricots, picking 44 Evaporating fruit 32 Barrel presses 69 Faville-Hall storage house .... 101 Barrel, standard 186 Ferris, Dean, on storing vege- Beach, S. A., on apple storage . . 141 tables 115 Berry package 77 Filling the package 67 Blackberries, picking 43, 46 First-grade fruit 61 Boxes for apples 83 Fisk, J. M., storage house .... 128 Brooks Bros', storage house . . . 148 Foreign market . 12 Burton, J. A., storage house . . 149 Fruit market i Canadian apple exports 175 Fruit-package laws 176 Canadian fruit house 128 Gooseberries, picking 43, 46 Canadian fruit marks act .... 183 Grades of fruit 63 Canadian fruit-package law . . . 182 Grading fruit 59 Canadian fruit shipments .... 13 Grape basket 79 Canning 38 Grapes, picking 44, 48 'Caves" for storage 121 Grapes, sorting 60 Check for pickers 53 Grapes, southern 220 Cherries, picking 44,46 Grape storage' 112 Cider making 40 Growing fruit 7 Coburn, W. S., storage house. . 147 Hale's package label 90 Commission charges 206 Handling fruit for storage . . 96-109 Commission men 8 Hill, A. H., packing shed. . . . 153 Commission merchants 189 Hill, A. H., storage house .... 165 Cooperative marketing 17 Hill, H. H., storage house .... 148 Competition 5 Hillside storage 157 Competition, inversion of .... 21 Home market 22 Cost of cold storage 99 Ice refrigeration 99 Cranberries 217 Imports of fruits, U. S 171 Crates for fruits 87 Improvised storage 148 223 224 FRUIT HARVESTING, STORING, MARKETING PAGE Judgment in grading 66 Keeping quality '. ... 112 Kinney, T. I,., storage house ... 123 L,adders for picking 50 I,aws regarding fruit packages . 176 L,ean-to storage 154 Managing pickers 52 Margin of profit 5 Market problems 6 Marks on packages 89 Massachusetts berry -basket law . 179 McClelland, J. S., storage house . 147 Mechanical graders 67 Mechanical pickers 49 Mechanical refrigeration .... 98 Michigan peach basket 81 Missouri apple barrel law .... 181 Moore, Trevor, on grape storage 113 Morris, O. M., on storage in pits . 119 National league Commission Merchants 189 New Jersey peach basket law . . 180 New York apple, pear, quince, and potato barrel law .... 178 New York small-fruit package law 177 Nova Scotia apple barrel .... 75 Nova Scotia apple house 138 Ontario storage house 148 Orchard wagons 50 Over-production of fruit 25 Package laws 176 Packages 73 Packages, filling 67 Packages, general summary ... 88 Packing fruit 59 Paper headings for barrels . . 76 Peach packages 80 Peaches, packing 69 Peaches, picking 44, 46 Picking 43 Picking for storage 96 Picking machines 49 Picking receptacles 46 Picking tools 48 Pits for storage 117 Plums, packing 70 PAGE Plums, picking 44, 46 Pools 17 Prices, philosophy of 25 Production and price 25-27 Production of fruits, Massa- chusetts 3 Production of fruits, U. S 2 Prunes, California 172 Punch-card for pickers 53 Quality in fruits 6 Raspberries, picking 43, 46 Refrigerator cars 207, 209 Requirements for storage .... 95 ars, F. C., on apple storage . . 138 son of fruits 30 Selling associations 17 Shepherd's apple box 84 Six-basket carrier 82 "Slacks" 16 Smith, J. S., grape storage .... 114 Sorting tables 65 Spraying recommended 188 Stems on or off 47 Storage of fruit 95 Strawberries, picking 43, 46 Supply and demand ....... 26 Supply, conditions affecting ... 27 Systems of storage 97 Temperatures in storage .... no Thousand-barrel storage house . 162 Transportation 8, 18, 27, 187 Utilization of wastes 31 Vegetables, storage of 115 Ventilation system of storage . . 106 Ventilators, arrangement of ... 107 Wagons for fruit 50 Wall structure for storage house, 125, 140 Wastes, utilization of 31 West Virginia storage houses . . 150 Wholesale and retail markets contrasted 4 Wilson, T. B., storage house . . 141 Wine making 40 Woolverton's apple box 85 Wrapping fruits 89 Wright and Sons' refrigeration . 103 STANDARD BOOKS PUBLISHED BY ORANGE TUDD COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO 439-441 Lafayette Street Marquette Building T)OOKS sent to all p yds of the world for catalog price. Discounts jw large quantities on appli- cation. Correspondence invited. Brief descriptive catalog free. Large illustrated catalog, six cents. Soils By CHARLES WILLIAM BURKETT, Director Kansas Agri- cultural Experiment Station. The most complete and populai work of the kind ever published. As a rule, a book of this sort is dry and uninteresting, but in this case it reads like a novel. The author has put into it his individuality. The story of the properties of the soils, their improvement and manage- ment, as well as a discussion of the problems of crop growing and crop feeding, make this book equally valuable to the farmer, student and teacher. 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The cultural direc- tions are plainly stated, practical and to the point. The illustrations which embellish this work have been drawn from nature and have been engraved especially for this book. 312 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 Fumigation Methods By WILLIS G. JOHNSON. A timely up-to-date book on the practical application of the new methods for destroying insects with hydrocyanic acid gas and carbon bisulphid, the most powerful insecticides ever discovered. It is an indis- pensable book for farmers, fruit growers, nurserymen, garden- ers, florists, millers, grain dealers, transportation companies, college and experiment station workers, etc. Illustrated. 313 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Diseases of Swine By Dr. R. A. CRAIG, Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the Purdue University. A concise, practical and popular guide to the prevention and treatment of the diseases of swine. With the discussions on each disease are given its causes, symptoms, treatment and means of prevention. Every part of the book impresses the reader with the fact that its writer is thoroughly and practically familiar with all the details upon which he treats. All technical and strictly scientific terms are avoided, so far as feasible, thus making the work at once available to the. practical stock raiser as well as to the teacher and student. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 190 pages. Cloth $0.75 Spraying Crops Why, When and How By CLARENCE M. WEED, D.Sc. The present fourth edition has been rewritten and reset throughout to bring it thoroughly up to date, so that it embodies the latest practical information gleaned by fruit growers and experiment station workers. So much new information has come to light since the third edition was published that this is practically a new book, needed by those who have utilized the earlier editions, as well as by fruit growers and farmers generally. Illustrated. 136 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 Successful Fruit Culture By SAMUEL T. MAYNARD. A practical guide to the culti- vation and propagation of Fruits, written from the standpoint of the practical fruit grower who is striving to make his business profitable by growing the best fruit possible and at the least cost. It is up-to-date in every particular, and covers the entire practice of fruit culture, harvesting, storing, mar- keting, forcing, best varieties, etc., etc. It deals with principles first and with the practice afterwards, as the foundation, prin- ciples of plant growth and nourishment must always remain the same, while practice will vary according to the fruit, grower's immediate conditions and environments. Illustrated. 265 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Plums and Plum Culture By F. A. WAUGH. A complete manual for fruit growers, nurserymen, farmers and gardeners, on all known varieties of plums and their successful management. This book marks an epoch in the horticultural literature of America. It is a complete monograph of the plums cultivated in and indigenous to North America. It will be found indispensable to the scientist seeking the most recent and authoritative informa- tion concerning this group, to the nurseryman who wishes to handle his varieties accurately and intellingently, and to the cultivator who would like to grow plums successfully. Illus- trated. 391 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . . $1.50 Fruit Harvesting, Storing-, Marketing By F. A. WAUGH. A practical guide to the picking, stor- ing, shipping and marketing of fruit. The principal subjects covered are the fruit market, fruit picking, sorting and pack- ing, the fruit storage, evaporating, canning, statistics of the fruit trade, fruit package laws, commission dealers and dealing, cold storage, etc., etc. No progressive fruit grower can afford to be without this most valuable book. Illustrated. 232 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 Systematic Pomology By F. A. WAUGH, professor of horticulture and landscape gardening in the Massachusetts agricultural college, formerly of the university of Vermont. This is the first book in the English language which has ever made the attempt at a com- plete and comprehensive treatment of systematic pomology. It presents clearly and in detail the whole method by which fruits are studied. The book is suitably illustrated. 288 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.00 The Nut Culturist By ANDREW S. FULLER. A treatise on the propagation, planting and cultivation of nut-bearing trees and shrubs adapted to the climate of the United States, with the scien- tific and comman names of the fruits known in commerce as edible or otherwise useful nuts. Intended to aid the farmer to increase his income without adding to his expenses or labor. Cloth, 121110 $1.50 Cranberry Culture By JOSEPH J. WHITE. Contents : Natural history, history of cultivation, choice of location, preparing the ground, plant- ing the vines, management of meadows, flooding, enemies and difficulties overcome, picking, keeping, profit and loss. Illustrated. 132 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . $1.00 Ornamental Gardening for Americans By ELIAS A. LONG, landscape architect. A treatise on beautifying homes, rural districts and cemeteries. A plain and practical work with numerous illustrations and instruc- tions so plain that they may be readily followed. Illustrated. 390 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 Grape Culturist By A. S. FULLER. This is one of the very best of works on the culture of the hardy grapes, with full directions for all departments of propagation, culture, etc., with 150 excellent engravings, illustrating planting, training, grafting, etc. 282 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $1.50 Gardening for Young and Old By JOSEPH HARRIS. A work intended to interest farmers' boys in farm gardening, which means a better and more profit- able form of agriculture. The teachings are given in the familiar manner so well known in the author's " Walks and Talks on the Farm." Illustrated. 191 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $1.00 Money in the Garden By P. T. QUINN. The author gives in a plain, practical style instructions on three distinct, although closely connected, branches of gardening the kitchen garden, market garden and field culture, from successful practical experience for a term of years. Illustrated. 268 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. $1.00 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 6 1948 250ct'49J F 5Jan'65SB IjO -100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 JUMOl ffill6,97316 IKELI U.C.BERI RECOLD 8 73 -2PM -DAM ye 47606' > # ,